Crawling
by FivebyFive89
Summary: The Tresspasser DLC was…Alarming, to say the least. The drama my Inquisitor went through inspired this. What becomes of a dual wield/archer rogue with one arm? Has Josephine/Inquisitor, but not the focus, and will probably become a series of one shots focussing on various points throughout the Inquisition story.
1. Crawling

**A/N: So, I suck at both summaries and titles (titles especially!) but when I did my final check of this, Krwlng, the studio edit of Linkin Park's Crawling came on when I hit play on itunes and for some reason stuck with me so…That's the reason for that XD**

 **I'm keeping this open because I may add further 'chapters' from various points in the Inquisition story. Not sure at this point, though I definitely want to. We shall see!**

* * *

When it happened, Inquisitor Kalani Lavellan had been lucid enough to understand the implications. It would be a life changing injury. Remove the afflicted limb in order to save her life. The anchor was killing her and it was no longer a slow process.

Kalani groaned and stumbled between Dorian and Cassandra, her weakened legs buckling as a wave of pain washed over her, starting at her left palm where the anchor shone angrily against her fair skin, and racing up her arm and into her chest. Ice needled into her lungs with each gasping breath she took.

"Not far now…" Sera murmured nervously, following behind as they attempted to get Kalani into the room being prepped by the Winter Palace healers. The wooden door they had just passed through burst open behind them, striking the wall with a loud _boom,_ and Cassandra glanced over one shoulder at the intruder.

"Josephine, you must leave!" She insisted. Sera moved in beside Kalani, motioning for Cassandra to take care of Josephine. She pulled her fellow elf's arm around her shoulders and followed the healers rushing ahead of them.

"No, I-" Josephine ducked around Cassandra to reach Kalani's side.

"Josie," Kalani spat through grit teeth. The pain in her hand was mounting, white hot barbs piercing her flesh. She didn't want Josephine to see her like this. " _Ma vhenan_ , please…" She raised her head to look up into the worried face of the ambassador.

"Kalani-" Josephine started, locking eyes and seeing nothing but pain and desperation in the Inquisitor's emerald gaze.

"Go!" It struck like lightning, agony coursing through her body. Every nerve ending ablaze. Kalani screamed as the anchor burned brighter, bathing the room in its otherworldly green glow. Dorian and Sera struggled to keep the elf upright between them.

"We must act quickly," one of the healers had returned to them, his expression dire.

"Do it," Kalani moaned, teetering on the edge of consciousness.

"Come, Josephine," Cassandra seized the ambassador's elbow and began dragging her away, back towards the doorway. To sunlight and warmth.

"Kalani!" Josephine cried as she was lead away, half fighting against Cassandra, half willingly pulled along. She stared back along the corridor, meeting the fading gaze of the Inquisitor.

Dimly, Kalani wondered if this would be the last time she looked into those soft brown eyes. She knew what was about to happen might kill her.

"Get her onto the table and sedate her."

* * *

Kalani couldn't remember much of the week after that. She knew there had been pain and shock, but she remembered little else through the haze of drugs she had been given. Potions and poultices to soothe the pain and the trauma, and keep infection at bay. In that time, they returned to the mountain fortress of Skyhold. Solas' fortress. To abandon it would be as folly as to stay, and so they stayed despite the rumours that fueled.

She began to recover, slowly at first, and then faster, regaining her health and her self with each passing day. She mourned the loss of her hand, but was grateful for her life being saved. She struggled with accepting there were things she now needed help with. The single braid at her temple, she could no longer plait herself. She had stubbornly insisted to leave it, to let her hair grow out and hang loose. She needed her food cut for her and that made her miserable until Josephine quickly insisted any meals meant for the Inquisitor should be cut up before being brought to her. Kalani liked that. Soon she had found someone to cut her hair, to shave a thin strip along her left temple again, and each morning Josephine would tie in the single braid above that bristly strip before leaving their room to see to her letters, still busy gathering news and favour around Thedas.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. The wound healed, and her duties were gradually increased once more. It took her mind off things, grounded her. But there were moments, still, when she slipped into a dark mood, angry with the injustice of her fate.

Kalani lay on her back in bed with her eyes closed, clinging to the last vestiges of her dream. She could still hear the aravels creaking softly, the sigh of the wind through tall grass, and the whistle and thud of arrows flying and finding their mark on painted wooden targets.

If she stayed perfectly still, motionless, without moving a single muscle, she could almost pretend. But it couldn't last.

She sighed and glanced down at her left arm, laying above the covers. The skin had healed, terminating in a rounded stump. Sometimes it still hurt. Phantom pains, the healers had told her, were common.

Wintry sunlight slanted across the room, falling over the foot of the bed in a criss-cross of diamond shadows cast by the latticework windows that lead out onto the wide balcony. She could feel the cool air against her bare skin and burrowed further under the woollen blankets, savouring the warmth. But it was late and she had to get up. She stubbornly snuggled down, absorbing every ounce of warmth, and felt her braid brush against her cheek. She vaguely remembered Josephine's quick fingers toying with her hair, bringing her just to the edge of waking, before the Antivan ambassador had left. Kalani smiled to herself, curling the braid around one finger. Josephine had been nothing short of amazing since the moment they had met. If there was one thing she was glad of that had come out of the drama caused by the Breach, it was meeting Josephine Montilyet. Falling for her had been confusing. While the Lavellan clan had been more accepting of humans than others, Kalani was still Dalish. It was her job to ensure the continuation of her people. Not to run off with a human woman. But it had been exhilarating, finding out her feelings were reciprocated, and entering into a relationship. And that relationship, she suspected, had saved her these past few months. Josephine had been there for her every step of the way, aiding her recovery.

Josephine would not be impressed to find her still abed at such an hour. Kalani sighed into her pillow and rolled out of bed, landing on her feet and standing in one fluid motion as the covers fell away and left her in nothing but her bedclothes. The thin fabric did nothing to keep out the chill of the morning air and she shuddered, hastily undressing and pulling on her day clothes. It had been a struggle at first. One more thing Josephine had to help her with. But now, dressing one-handed was almost easy. She pinned her left sleeve up at her shoulder and pushed her fingers back through her hair in an attempt to tame her wild mane. It was hopeless, really. Her long auburn hair would do its own thing as usual.

Her stomach protested its empty state with a loud growl as she left her room, leaving the heavy wooden door to swing shut behind her. The iron latch rattled as it engaged, and the door thudded loudly into its frame, the sound amplified by the stone walls surrounding the winding staircase. Kalani hurried down the steps and pushed open the door at the bottom, leaving her quarters for the long entrance hall of Skyhold. Where once the room had been dark and dingy, now light streamed in through the tall windows behind the Inquisitor's throne. Fires flickered in bronze braziers and wall sconces, banishing the shadows to the farthest corners. Long wooden tables still lined either side of the room, occupied currently by a few agents of the Inquisition, who looked up as they heard footsteps on the flagstones and greeted Kalani brightly. She smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgment, but didn't stop as she made her way to the kitchens of Skyhold in search of food.

Nestled deep within the Frostback mountains, the fortress was usually chilly, to say the least. But as Kalani entered the kitchens she was met with a wall of heat as every fire burned hot. She smelled bread baking in the ovens, soups and porridge simmering in pots and meat cooking over the fires. As usual the kitchen staff were hard at work, cooking through all hours of the day and night. Many of them had probably been up long before the sun.

"Lady Lavellan," a tall human inclined his head, placing the tray of rolls he was carrying on the worn stone work surface by the oven he had taken them from to cool. "What takes your fancy this morning?" He stood with his hands on his hips, smiling down at her. Sweat glistened on his forehead and dampened the long salt-and-pepper hair scraped back into a pony tail at the nape of his neck.

"Nothing fancy this morning, Robert," Kalani said, reaching into a hemp sack that had been left in one corner with that mornings delivery and pulling out an apple. Its bright red skin gleamed in the smokey light of the kitchen fires. "I've let the day get far enough away from me."

"An apple is not enough breakfast for a warrior such as yourself," he replied good-naturedly, rolling his eyes as he saw her already leaving. Kalani grinned and shot him a wink as she bit into her breakfast while backing out the door.

" _Ma serannas_ ," she spoke around a mouthful of sweet apple. "Have a good day!"

She ate her apple as she crossed the courtyard towards the armoury. Skyhold was quieter than it had been in the years before, when the threat of Corypheus had brought Thedas together beneath the Inquisitions banner. The refugees had found new homes, the soldiers had no more reason to fight. Plenty remained in the ancient fortress, but where before the courtyard had been a flurry of activity, now it was near empty.

Kalani tossed the apple core into a corner of the courtyard and licked juice from her fingers as she entered the armoury through one of the heavy iron-bound doors. Sunlight shone through high barred windows in bright shafts, lighting patches of flag-stoned floor scattered with straw. Dust sifted through the light, flaring gold as though ablaze before dropping into shadow once more. Torches burned in wall sconces between wooden racks of weaponry, flames dancing as the open door let in a draft. The fire reflected from polished steel, making the blades and armour plates look more like gleaming bronze and copper. Kalani marched straight up to a rack of swords and reached out her hand to lift a short sword free when something caught her eye and she faltered. A pale bow stave propped against the darkened wall in one corner, still strung from earlier use. Kalani stared, outstretched fingers flexing inches from the leather-bound grip of the sword she had chosen. She dropped her palm to her side and stepped towards the longbow, eyes roving the length of wood, from horn tip to horn tip. It's protective coating shimmered in the torch light. She lifted her hand and touched one finger to the wood. The stave felt smooth and cool beneath her skin. She string was rough hemp, familiar beneath her fingers as she ran them over it. She braced one knee against the stave, pinning it to the cold stone wall as she tried to draw back with her hand. The bow barely gave under her awkward grip. Irritably she released it and turned away, back to the swords. The bow clattered to the floor behind her but she paid it no heed, instead seizing the sword she had picked out and stalking outside with it to the empty training ground.

The grass had been worn away under the many feet that had taken up fighting stances before the hefty wood-and-straw mannequins, leaving hard-packed mud that turned to sludge in the rains and froze solid through winter. Currently it was hard and cold as she stomped towards the nearest mannequin and swung. Her blade connected with the thick wooden planks that made up the scarred shield with an impact she felt the length of her arm. She jabbed at its straw-stuffed sack belly, drew back her arm and swung at its head, enjoying the weight of the blade in her hand, though it was no fun fighting against an inanimate object. And she was far more used to wielding twin blades than one. But that wouldn't be happening any time soon unless her elven pantheon decided to gift her with a new arm.

She hacked angrily at the wooden mannequin, blinking through straw and wood splinters as the sword blade bit deep. She swung down in a wide overhead arc and felt her weapon smash almost clean through the thick wooden 'shoulder' where it became stuck. She heaved backwards but the blade wouldn't move. Wiggling it up and down did nothing. She pushed her foot against the mannequin's chest while pulling backwards on the sword but only succeeded in nearly pulling the heavy mannequin on top of herself. She let go with an angry snarl and stalked away, muttering darkly.

"Well, then, fine, stay there."

Her feet carried her into the Skyhold gardens, beautiful at any time of the year, though Kalani didn't notice as she made for the gazebo in the centre and dropped down onto the cold stone bench. Cobbled pathways crossed through tall grass that was littered with dead leaves fallen from trees that blazed with colour. Red and orange canopies rustled above Kalani as a cold breeze blew down from the mountains, branches creaking as they swayed. Bushes and potted plants lined the walkways, filling the garden with the comforting scent of herbs and spices. It did nothing to ease the mood the elf had slipped into.

* * *

Josephine had left her desk in search Kalani and a much-needed break after trawling through letters containing thinly veiled threats from Orlesian nobles all morning. She headed straight for the training grounds as the elf spent most of her time playing with blades. Even losing a hand couldn't change that much about her. Josephine shivered as she crossed the courtyard, the air frigid against her fire-warmed skin, and frowned at the silence around herself. She should be able to hear the chop of blade against wood. But perhaps Kalani was elsewhere. As she rounded the corner she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The sun was glaring brightly off a sword buried in the top of a rather beat up looking mannequin. While it could have been left there by anyone she suspected she knew just who had trapped the blade in the wood.

She made her way back inside, heading to the Inquisitor's quarters, to the library, the kitchens, growing increasingly worried with each passing minute without a sign of Kalani. She made her way back outside into the cold and decided to try the gardens, breathing a sigh of relief that didn't quite exit her mouth in a puff of white but may as well have, as she spied the elf sat on a bench glowering at a rose bush without really seeing it.

"There you are!" She exclaimed, rushing forwards. "Aren't you freezing out here?"

"You're a noble in a relationship with a one-armed Dalish heretic," Kalani replied darkly without looking up at her. Josephine halted in front of her, the relief she had felt at finally finding Kalani dissipating. She needed no skills in reading people to see the anger and the pain in the elf's posture.

"Yes," she said simply, tipping her head to one side as she watched Kalani's bowed head, "I am."

"Everyone's probably wondering when the scandal will end." Long auburn hair hid her face from view, gleaming like fine spun copper in the sunlight.

"Then they will be wondering for a long time. Are you forgetting that you are Dalish in a relationship with a human? A woman, no less." Kalani glanced up at Josephine, but made no reply. It was true. Just as it was important to the Dalish that their race be continued, human nobles held great stock in continuing their bloodlines. They were both shirking their duties as far as their people were concerned.

"We've been through this before," Josephine said gently as she sat beside her, close enough for their knees to touch, and peered into her face. The elf looked away again. "So, what's all this really about?" Josephine tried to catch her gaze once more.

Kalani said nothing for a moment, instead staring down at her feet as she poked at a loose stone beneath the bench with the toe of one boot. "I had a dream," she said finally, kicking the stone away from them. She watched it skip and bounce its way across the path, clacking quietly against the smooth cobbles "Well…More like a memory. Back when I was with my clan. Some stupid archery competition." She rolled her eyes at her perceived silliness of the activity. "I've always been better with the long knives but…I was pretty good with a bow once upon a time." She glanced sideways at Josephine.

"And you miss it?" Josephine asked tentatively. Kalani spoke with a bitterness that made her feel as though she were walking on egg shells. She didn't want to say the wrong thing and push the elf further into her mood.

"I miss my hand," Kalani mumbled sadly. "It sounds…ridiculous, I suppose." She looked down again in shame.

Josephine frowned and shook her head, touching one finger beneath Kalani's chin to tip her head and catch her gaze again, beautiful bright green eyes that caught the sun and shone like emeralds. "No, not at all."

"It was always there and I took it for granted and now… I don't even remember what it felt like, not really. And I'm left with this." She glared down at the remains of her arm, lifting it for emphasis. "They should have cut it all off. What use is half an arm?" She heaved an agitated sigh and shook her head, refusing to look at Josephine again. "I'm just…useless now." Her shoulders slumped.

"You were more to the Inquisition than just the mark on your hand." Josephine took the Inquisitor's remaining hand in both of hers. Her skin felt cold and she wondered how long Kalani had been sat outside. "If you think losing the anchor, losing your hand, makes you useless, then you are gravely mistaken."

"So you keep saying," Kalani said wearily.

"And so I will keep saying until you listen to me," Josephine told her sternly. She hated to see the elf like this, struggling in the bottom of a pit of despair. "If you place your worth in your ability to fight, well, I have seen you disarm Cassandra with one hand. No, you can't use your twin blades any more. But you're just as good with the one. You're not-" she paused to take a deep breath, and Kalani turned her emerald eyes to Josephine's curiously. "You're not useless," she finished softly, reaching out to tuck an auburn braid behind a pointed ear. Kalani closed her eyes and leaned into Josephine's warm touch.

"What would I do without you?" She murmured, as Josephine brushed her thumb against Kalani's cheek.

"Probably find yourself in all kinds of trouble," Josephine teased, tapping one finger against the tip of Kalani's nose. Kalani looked up at her, the faintest hint of a mischievous smile on her lips. That was true enough. She and Sera had used to unleash chaos with their practical jokes and somehow it had always been Kalani that took the blame… "That's better," Josephine said, stroking her thumb against Kalani's lower lip and giving her own smile. "You should come to me if you wake feeling this way."

"I didn't want to bother you, not when you're so busy…" She said seriously.

"How many times do I need to tell you, Kalani?" Josephine looked pained. "You are not _bothering_ me." Kalani looked away from her.

"I have no reason to feel this way. I am alive, I should be grateful." She sounded weary, tired of the way her mind seemingly worked illogically to hurt her when she knew she didn't need to hurt.

"But you went through a great trauma," Josephine took Kalani's hand and squeezed her fingers comfortingly. "Of course, you feel this way. It's hardly a scrape. I need you to talk to me, not sit out in the cold until I find you."

"It's not so cold…" Kalani replied, turning her head to look at her. Josephine arched one eyebrow. "Which wasn't the point. I know." She flashed another small smile, a playful spark in her eyes that would normally earn an involuntary smile from Josephine. Not now, though.

"I worry about you, Kalani…" She murmured.

"You don't need to, _ma vhenan_." Kalani linked their fingers and gave her such a confident look that Josephine believed her. "I will be fine. Just give me time."

"All the time in the world," Josephine said, then added, with a fond smile, " _ma vhenan_."

* * *

 **A/N: So hopefully I'll be updating this sporadically with other moments from the Inquisition story including my Inquisitor :) Keep an eye out!**


	2. Wrath of Heaven

Kalani tipped back her head to observe the sky in all its bizarre glory, staring up at roiling clouds that swirled around an angry scar burning luminous green in the heavens, pulsing with its own unnatural heartbeat. A stream of light connected the sky to the ground in a kind of funnel cloud, like a tornado of poisonous green magic.

"We call it 'the Breach'," her captor, a severe human woman, told her, following her gaze and watching the Breach with a grim expression on her angular face. She was tall and pretty, prettier if she smiled. Which she didn't. A deep scar slashed across her left cheek, a smaller one along her right cheek bone.

Cassandra, she gathered, from conversations she had overheard in the prison beneath Haven's Chantry. Seeker Pentaghast.

Kalani had travelled to the conclave between mages and templars at the Temple of Sacred Ashes and had apparently born witness to much more than she bargained for because now she found herself prisoner to an ancient order, implicated in crimes she had no memory of.

She had awoken in pain, in a darkened room with her hands locked into cold metal manacles in front of herself. A solid metal bar linked each cuff, offering little mobility. Her shoulders burned with tension and her fingers were cold and stiff. The air was chill, smelled damp. She was on her knees, cold seeping through the stone floor, through her trousers, making her legs ache. The Chantry's blazing sun was carved into the floor beneath her. Torches blazed in brackets mounted to the stone walls, glinting off cell bars across the room and the heavy plate armour worn by the four soldiers surrounding her with their weapons drawn, naked blades pointing right at her. Kalani barely had time to register all this before it happened. Pain arrowed through her left hand and arced up her arm, causing her to flinch and yelp, and stare in horror as green energy flared against the skin of her palm. As fast as it happened, the energy and pain dissipated, leaving her gawping at a thin line of green light burning in her skin.

She jumped as the single door to the cells burst open and two figures entered from the shadowy corridor outside. Cassandra, scars flickering gruesomely in the candlelight, and some tall, dark, hooded woman called Leliana. Clever eyes stared out from behind red bangs, taking in the mark, the elf's face. With the arrival of the two women, the soldiers surrounding Kalani sheathed their weapons.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now?" Cassandra had begun, voice tight as she circled the defenceless elf threateningly. Kalani bristled angrily. What sort of greeting was that? "The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except for you." The human paused in front of her and pointed accusingly. Kalani narrowed her green eyes dangerously.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded, glancing from Cassandra, who paced like an impatient lioness waiting for the moment to pounce, to the silent Leliana standing quietly behind her colleague with her arms folded. And then it clicked. "You think I'm responsible?"

"Explain this!" Cassandra seized her arm and jerked it upwards, holding Kalani's hand before her face as the ethereal green light crackled painfully around her fingers.

"I can't," Kalani forced out through grit teeth, "I don't know what it is or how it got there." How like a human to pin the blame on an elf, baseless accusations thrown at the easiest target. No wonder the rest of the clans avoided them.

"You're lying!" Cassandra shouted, throwing down Kalani's hands and reaching instead for her throat. Leliana stepped in then, swooping forwards and catching Cassandra's elbow to pull her back. Cassandra looked up at her.

"We need her, Cassandra," she said, pushing Cassandra to the edge of the room and then turning her calculating gaze to Kalani, who simply glared up at her. She had no idea what was going on, what had happened, where she was. Though she suspected she must still be near the Temple of Sacred Ashes. "Do you remember what happened? How this began?" Leliana asked, and there was desperation behind her carefully controlled voice.

"No," Kalani replied stiffly. Then, because she felt it may allow her to live a little longer, "I was running. Things were chasing me," she looked down at the floor, reaching for memories that dispersed like smoke the harder she tried to grasp them. "And then…A woman?" She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Her shackles clanked. "Maybe."

"A woman?" She looked back up at Leliana's sharp question.

"She reached out to me. But then…" Kalani faltered, struggling to remember. Cassandra motioned Leliana towards the still-open door.

"Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take her to the Rift." The look Cassandra sent her then had sent a chill of fear crawling the length of her spine, but Kalani hid it, instead defiantly meeting the Seeker's gaze.

And that was how they came to be stood outside in the freezing air, watching the sky whirl behind the mountains and spit out demons. Her shackles had been removed and replaced with rough rope that bit into her skin and cut off the circulation to her fingers.

"It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour," Cassandra continued with her back to Kalani, watching the Breach. "It's not the only such rift. But it's the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave." She turned to face the elf once more, walking towards her. Heavy boots crunched through snow and gravel as she came to a halt in front of Kalani.

"An explosion can do that…?" She asked, meeting the Seeker's gaze in confusion. She had never heard of such an occurrence before.

"This one did," Cassandra stated matter of fact. "Unless we act, the Breach may grow until it swallows the world." Kalani raised an eyebrow. Melodramatic, but-

The Breach rippled, energy funnelled downwards towards the ground and spreading across the sky, and pain ripped through her hand, blinding, searing, agony. Kalani heard herself scream, felt her knees buckle and strike ground frozen solid. Snow seeped through her woollen trousers, icy cold and wet against her skin. The pain faded and left her weakened. She knelt in the snow, shoulders hunched as she gasped for breath, and clenched her fist around the abnormal green glowing.

"Each time the Breach expands," Cassandra said, crouching before her, "your mark spreads…and it is killing you." Kalani glanced up at her in alarm as the pain left her, as though nothing had happened. Cassandra's expression had softened somewhat. "It may be the key to stopping this. But there isn't much time."

"The key…?" Kalani asked, emerald eyes finding the vortex in the sky behind Cassandra. "You think I can…stop that?"

"Perhaps. We have only one chance. As do you." Cassandra's matter-of-fact tone unsettled her.

"You still think I did this?" Kalani scowled at her in disbelief. "To myself?! I'm not even a mage!"

"Not intentionally," Cassandra said fairly, and Kalani hated her for it. "Something _clearly_ went wrong."

"Clearly," Kalani repeated drily. "I'm not responsible for this."

"Someone is. And you are our only suspect." The Seeker fixed her with a reasonable look that served only to fuel Kalani's rage.

"Oh, well, then! It must be cut and dry, right?" The elf spat out.

"You wish to prove your innocence?" Cassandra asked, ignoring the derision in Kalani's voice. "This is the only way."

"Execution, or maybe die by closing the evil death cloud?" Kalani glanced up at the bizarre anomaly in the sky. She took a deep breath, feeling her palm ache. A dull, bone-deep throbbing that seemed in alarming synch with the Breach. She let the breath out slowly, trying to expel the anger at the _unfairness_ of it all. "Very well," she said. Cooperation seemed her best chance at survival. Until the mark killed her, at least. She felt her heart flutter anxiously. She didn't want to die… "I understand."

While the brilliant green eyes steadily meeting her gaze still seemed rebellious, Cassandra saw her prisoner was finally willing to go along with her plan. Which was good, because it was the only plan she had. She nodded once and rose to her full height, reaching out a hand and hauling the elf to her feet by the back of her tunic.

Kalani staggered slightly from light headedness, looking sideways at Cassandra as it cleared and jerking her shoulders to shake off the gauntleted hand that still gripped her. Cassandra frowned in disapproval and grabbed her elbow, using it to steer her roughly through a busy campsite, large tents clustered around ramshackle wooden buildings. Soldiers and villagers alike glared at Kalani as she passed. Angry mutterings and murderous stares followed them as they walked.

Cassandra saw the elf looking about herself and explained, "They have decided your guilt. They _need_ it."

Kalani looked sharply at her, looked away again towards the crowd as she heard mumbled curses, utterings of "Knife ears" and "murderer".

"The people of Haven mourn our Most Holy, Divine Justinia, head of the Chantry. The Conclave was hers. It was a chance for peace between Mages and Templars." The emotion in her voice was palpable. This wasn't new information to Kalani, she had gathered as much in the short time she had spent looking around at the temple.

They had passed through the campsite and were heading along a dirt track bordered on both sides by tall trees and snow. A stone gatehouse lay before them, and armoured soldiers moved to open the heavy wooden doors.

"We lash out, like they say. But we must think beyond ourselves, as she did. Until the Breach is sealed," Cassandra continued gravely, and Kalani nodded along as though she cared.

Through the doors, they came out onto a wide stone bridge crowded with soldiers, and wooden carts and crates. Snow dusted the worn stones and frosted armour. Clerics prayed over wounded soldiers, and stiff blankets covered corpses lining the ground beneath the snow-capped parapets.

The doors were closed behind them, rattling on their fittings.

Kalani was halted as Cassandra moved ahead and pressed the knuckles of one hand to her chest to stop her in her tracks. She drew a knife from her belt and turned to face the elf, who raised her eyes from the gleaming blade to the cold, dark eyes of her captor, feeling a twinge of apprehension. Surely after her great speech, the Seeker wasn't about to kill her…?

"There will be a trial. I can promise no more," Cassandra said as though she were moving heaven and earth to do so.

Kalani looked down again at the knife as Cassandra reached out and raised her bound wrists with one hand, sliding the knife between the ropes with the other and severing them with a soft _snik_. She pulled the ropes away and dropped them to the ground, returning her knife to its leather scabbard at her back.

"Come. It is not far." She turned and lead the way. Kalani followed, rubbing feeling back into her cold hands. They prickled as the blood began to flow properly once more, and her wrists stung where the rope had chafed.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked, following Cassandra. She could run, try to escape, but…She wouldn't get far. The Seeker knew this. She didn't check that Kalani was following. She knew the elf had no choice.

"Your mark must be tested on something smaller than the Breach," she replied.

"Oh?" Kalani asked, flexing her wrists, but apparently that was all Cassandra had to say on the matter.

"Open the gates," she ordered as they reached the other side of the bridge, "we are heading into the valley." The two men standing guard at gates identical to the ones Cassandra and her charge had just passed through turned and shoved open the iron bound doors.

They left Haven behind and made their way up a track that steadily rose, taking them ever closer to the Breach. Barricades lined the road, wooden frames with sharpened stakes angled towards anything heading down the track towards Haven. The further they went the more signs of fighting littered the path. Burning carts, charred corpses. Kalani's feeling of dread worsened with each step. She could see rocks and boulders swirling in the sky around the burning green vortex of the Breach, and bright streaks of light leaping away like comets to come crashing down to earth with muffled booms in the distance, and all the while death and destruction littered the way forwards.

Energy crackled downwards from the Breach, as the unearthly light tore the sky further apart. Kalani felt her world tilt wildly as pain ripped through her once more and she stumbled and fell, landing heavily on her side on hard-packed mud and ice with a startled shout. Cassandra whirled and rushed to her, bending down to help Kalani to her feet.

"The pulses are coming faster…" She said, hands lingering on Kalani's shoulders as something that looked suspiciously like concern lifted the edge from her stern features. She clapped the elf's upper arms once, as though to boost morale, then turned away once more and continued to walk. Kalani took a deep breath and followed, her left hand feeling like it was burning with cold, tingling from the magic.

"The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts appear," Cassandra told her grimly, "the more demons we face."

" _How_ did I survive the blast?" Kalani asked, staring at the Breach in horrified wonder as they walked.

"They said you…stepped out of a rift," Cassandra said as though she barely believed it herself, "then fell unconscious. They say a woman was in the rift behind you. No one knows who she was." Kalani puzzled over that a moment as Cassandra fell silent before speaking again, "everything father in the valley was laid waste. Including the Temple of Sacred Ashes. I suppose you'll see soon enough."

Kalani didn't like the sound of that. Cassandra's tone was bleak, and the destruction they had already witnessed so far out from the epicentre was enough to suggest just how dire the situation was closer to the scene.

Ahead the road sloped up towards another stone archway with flickering torches in mounted iron brackets either side of the supports, leading onto a bridge identical to the one they had passed along outside Haven. There were no gates here, the bridge open to all. Barricades bristled with spears and heavily armed soldiers rushed to and fro.

Light shot from the sky and struck the earth with muffled thuds like magical artillery, sometimes close enough that Kalani could feel the impact through her feet, the boom resonating inside her chest.

Across the bridge a group of soldiers clustered around a wooden cart they were using to block the archway they guarded. Kalani had just locked eyes with a young man who watched her suspiciously when a streak of green slammed down amongst them and exploded. Kalani threw up her hands to shield her face from the blast, feeling white hot heat ripple outwards, and the stones heaved underneath her. She stumbled backwards and suddenly she was falling as the bridge collapsed beneath her feet. She crashed down over rubble and slammed face first into the solid ice of the frozen lake below, choking as the air was knocked from her lungs and her teeth snapped together, stunning her. Snow and stone dust sifted down around her. She shook her head to clear it, hearing nothing but a ringing in her ears for a moment. Another brilliant green flash caught her attention and she glanced up in time to see a second deadly comet careen into the snowy ridge across the lake and slam into the thick ice in the centre. Cracks spider-webbed outwards from the impact site and then green light erupted upwards. A demon tore itself free of the Fade and all at once the light faded, leaving behind a blackened burn scar amongst a crater of ice.

The demon was tall even hunched over almost double. A single white eye burned amongst the shadows of what Kalani could only assume was its face, hidden as it was amongst swaths of black rags, that coiled around its grey-skinned body to fall in long folds where its legs should have been. Too-long arms terminated in long talons like blackened knife blades. It twitched its head to one side, fixing Kalani with its lamp-like eye and screeching in anger as it surged forwards.

As one, Kalani and Cassandra scrambled to their feet, Cassandra drawing her sword and sliding her shield from her back and onto one arm.

"Stay behind me!" She ordered, rapping her sword blade once against the top of her shield and charging at the shade.

Kalani opened her mouth to respond but stopped when she saw the ice ahead of herself begin to crack and bubble, turning black as wisps of green smoke twisted upwards. If ever there was a sign of imminent demonic activity, that was it.

"Not likely," she muttered, looking briefly to Cassandra, who was now tackling the first shade, and then turning away to look for something she could use as a weapon.

The initial explosion had obliterated any sign of the soldiers, vaporizing them, and had shattered the wagon they gaurded. Broken masonry littered the surface of the lake, and amongst it all were the remains of several crates that had held weapons. Broken spears and bow staves had been scattered everywhere. Half melted shields and crooked swords and _there_. A bundle of short swords that seemed relatively untouched.

She heard the arrival of the shade behind herself, felt the chill run down her spine as primal instincts told her to run. She dived for the swords, knocking aside several that were too damaged to use before grabbing two and pulling them free of their scabbards, turning just in time to cross them before herself and block a lunge from the demon attacking her. It roared in her face as she shoved it away, planting a foot in its chest to drive it back further. Her boots slipped on the ice and she had barely regained her balance when the demon rushed her again. She slashed with one sword, lopping off the arm that swiped at her, and jabbed with the other, feeling it crunch through bone as it sank up to the hilt in the demon's chest. She pushed forwards, leaning into the attack, as the creature writhed on the end of her blade in agony, screeching piteously up at the sky as it died. She wrenched her sword free and watched on in disgust as the demon hit the ice and turned into a bubbling mess of black sludge.

"Drop your weapons," Cassandra said, tone glacial. Kalani looked up at her in disbelief to find the point of a sword in her face, coated in black demon blood.

"What?"

" _Now_." Cassandra took a threatening step forwards, dropping the blade so that the point hovered mere inches from the elf's throat. Kalani felt a flare of anger.

"If you're going to lead me through a demon-infested valley, you'll have to trust me," she replied, tightening her grip on the weapons in her hands.

"Give me one reason to trust you," the sword was unwavering, Cassandra's dark eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Because my life is on the line," Kalani said, lowering her twin blades to her sides and standing straight, in the most relaxed posture she could manage while every instinct screamed at her to get ready for a fight. She attempted to look unthreatening, which wasn't difficult considering her slight frame. Cassandra was much taller and bulkier than she. And armoured. And already had a sword point millimetres from Kalani's jugular.

Cassandra watched her moment, before heaving a sigh of resignation, the fire dimming in her eyes.

"You're right," she said, wiping off her blade on a sleeve and sheathing it. Kalani discretely let out the breath she had been holding. "You don't need a weapon. But you should have one," Cassandra turned away and began walking, heading for the road they had been following up to the Breach. "I cannot protect you," she paused and turned back to face Kalani with a touch of humility in her expression, "I should remember you agreed to come willingly."

Kalani offered a small smile and neglected to mention she had considered running while kicking up a fuss about waking up as a prisoner.

"Yup," she said, returning to the weapons stash and rooting about for the scabbards that belonged to her new swords. She cleaned off the blades and sheathed the weapons, then attached them to the belt at her waist. She would have preferred a shoulder harness, as she could draw the weapons faster over her shoulders, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Where are your soldiers?" Kalani asked as she straightened, wondering if they would have back up while crossing the valley.

"They are at the forward camp, or fighting," Cassandra said, motioning for Kalani to follow her up the bank of the lake back onto the road. "We are on our own for now."

"They let their fearless leader travel through dangerous country without back up?" Kalani asked playfully as they began to walk alongside the frozen river that fed into the frozen lake from the frozen mountains. She tucked her hands beneath her arms to warm them, letting out a breath that emerged in a plume of white before her face.

"They don't _let_ me do anything," Cassandra shot her a dark look, not liking the teasing. "It is my choice."

"And a bold one at that." Kalani grinned and Cassandra eyed her up suspiciously, now not sure if she was being wound up or if the elf was serious.

"Yes, well…" She started, and suddenly drew her sword. Kalani took a step back in alarm. "Demons! Look out!" She brought up her shield just in time to block a magical projectile fired from a green wraith-like spirit across the river. Kalani drew her twin blades as she ran, sliding down the bank of the river and onto the treacherous ice to charge at two shades while Cassandra advanced on the spirits above them with her shield raised to deflect their attacks. Kalani could see the flare of green magic striking the polished metal surface from the corner of her eye as she dodged and ducked around the shades she fought. They were growing increasingly frustrated as their attacks met nothing but air and she jabbed at them with her weapons. She stabbed with both swords, shoving them into the back of one demon while twisting and using its body to block the attack from the other. The first demon melted away from her blades and she stepped over its bubbling corpse, mindful of the slippery surface she trod on, creaking and groaning beneath her weight. She could see pockets of air bubbling beneath the ice.

The demon before her roared and charged, arms pulled back to swipe at her with sharpened claws. Kalani leaped forwards and drove her blades upwards beneath its rib cage and into its chest cavity. The demon gave a startled gurgle, choked as she twisted her swords and yanked them free, feeling the steel grate against bone. She whirled even before the demon had fallen, eyes searching for more enemies. Instead, her emerald gaze met Cassandra's approving stare.

"We are clear," the seeker informed her, sheathing her weapon. "This way," Cassandra clambered down the slope back to the river, skidding on the ice as she crossed the slippery surface to meet with Kalani, and follow the river onwards. They moved deeper into the valley, past shattered buildings and felled trees, fighting demons as the Breach spat them out with increasing intensity.

They crossed the frozen river once again, towards a dark cliff face with a half-buried stairway that zig-zagged its way upwards. Two stone columns stood either side of the first step, twin fires burning from pedestals as markers.

"We're getting close to the rift," Cassandra said, picking up the pace, "you can hear the fighting."

Indeed, Kalani could hear fighting over the repeated sound of explosions from the Breach that shook the world around her. Somewhere high above people were shouting, demons screaming, the noise muffled faintly by the snow and crisp wintry air.

"We must help them," the seeker added, advancing with her sword drawn as they climbed the final step and came upon the remains of an entrance of a great stone building. The walls and roof had collapsed leaving a skeleton frame of burnt wood and charred stone. Broken glass was scattered across the snow, glittering like diamonds, blown out from the many windows.

Kalani saw a group of soldiers fighting demons around what appeared to be an ever-shifting series of green glass shards that hung in mid-air amongst a mist of green, snapping outwards and moving back into the centre of itself in staccato movements. There was no mistaking its relation to the great Breach that roiled in the sky in the distance. She felt the hair at the back of her neck prickle in response to seeing it. The mark on her left palm tingled as though a lightning mage had zapped it with electricity.

Cassandra raced forwards, shield first, leaping over fallen rubble and crashing into the side of a shade, sending it sprawling in the snow. She had plunged her sword downwards before the creature could rise.

Kalani ignored the feeling in her hand and drew her own weapons. She used the distraction of the fighting soldiers to move around the outside of the battle and strike at the luminous green spirits harrying them from afar. The rift seemed to suck their essence back into itself as she dispatched one after the other, then rushed into the thick of the fighting to help finish off the shades.

As the last one fell the rift seemed to burst open. The shards were replaced by a gaping green wound, a tear in the Veil, a miniature version of the Breach. Tendrils of magic crackled around the tear. The ground beneath Kalani's feet seemed to tremble as the rift rumbled and roared as though in the midst of some epic storm. The air felt heavily charged, and she could smell ozone.

"Quickly!" Shouted a bald-headed elf mage that had been fighting alongside the soldiers. He marched urgently up to Kalani, "before more come through!" She opened her mouth to ask what exactly he wanted her to do, but was shocked into silence when he knocked the sword from her left hand, seized her wrist and thrust her arm up at the rift. Green light whipped outwards and latched onto the mark in her palm. Kalani felt the moment it connected, energy tugging at her like a tidal pull, pulsing along the length of the magical cord. Her whole arm felt as though it were vibrating, humming with magic as the noise within the rift grew in pitch, and then with a crack the rift collapsed. Just like that, it was closed.

Kalani snatched her arm back from the elf, closing her fist and holding it close to her chest as she watched him distrustfully. It hadn't been effortless. The act had drawn from her own strength, left her gasping for breath. She glanced down at her hand, opening her fingers to inspect her palm. Finding no apparent change, she looked back up at the mage, willing her heart rate to slow down and her breath to steady.

"What did you do?" She demanded, flexing her fingers. They still tingled with residual magic, which was an especially bizarre feeling as she didn't actually _know_ any magic.

" _I_ did nothing," the mage replied with a soft smile, lifting one hand to gesture to her mark. "The credit is yours."

"I closed that thing…?" She asked uncertainly, looking down at her palm again. The mark glowed against her skin, a wide slash across her palm, buzzing faintly now. " _How_?" She raised her eyes to his, stunned. She had never seen anything like it before, not the rift, not the green mark.

"Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand," he explained. "I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach's wake. And it seems I was correct." He clasped his hands behind his back, looking smug.

"Meaning," Cassandra said, voice hopeful as she stepped closer to them, "it could also close the Breach itself."

"Possibly," the mage replied, turning his attention back to Kalani. She shifted uncomfortably. He watched her like she was some kind of curious specimen and she didn't like it. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation."

"Good to know," a gruff voice came from behind them. Kalani turned to see the short, bulky form of a male dwarf behind them. He had some kind of elaborate crossbow strapped to his back and was adjusting the leather glove on one hand. "And here I thought we'd be ass deep in demons forever." He looked up and met Kalani's gaze as he made his way over to them. She struggled to keep her eyes on his as his shirt was unbuttoned almost to the waist, displaying a barrel chest and an alarming amount of blonde chest hair. "Varric Tethras. Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong."

"Mmhmm." She nodded politely. He winked at Cassandra, who glowered in reply and only just bit back a snarl. Kalani looked from Cassandra to Varric, arching one eyebrow. "Are you with the Chantry, or…?" She left the sentence hanging, already knowing the answer but asking anyway.

The elf mage laughed beside her as she crouched to retrieve the sword he had caused her to drop.

"Was that a serious question?" He asked, and Kalani shrugged, sheathing her weapons.

"Technically I'm a prisoner," Varric said, looking down and fiddling with his glove again. "Just like you."

"I brought you here to tell your story to the Divine," Cassandra said, gesturing to the dwarf. "Clearly that is no longer necessary."

Varric spread his arms wide, "Yet, here I am. Lucky for you, considering current events." He gave her a pointed look, arms dropping back to his sides.

"I like your crossbow," Kalani told him, jutting her chin at the polished wooden handle visible over his shoulder. Varric looked back at it with a fond smile.

"Bianca and I have been through a lot together."

Kalani paused. "You…named your crossbow Bianca?" She had met many Widow-Makers and Death-Bringers, never a Bianca.

"Of course," Varric said as though it were obvious. "And she'll be great company in the valley."

"Absolutely not!" Cassandra stepped in front of Kalani to address Varric angrily. She let out a breath of agitation. "Your help is appreciated, Varric, but-"

"Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker?" He interrupted her. "Your soldiers aren't in control anymore." He tipped his head and fixed her with a look that said he was going to enjoy his next comment. "You need me…"

She saw Cassandra stiffen with indignance, arms swinging at her sides as though she was contemplating punching the dwarf. Then she uttered a sound of disgust and turned her back on him, walking several paces away from the group to cool off.

"My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions," the elf's mild voice brought Kalani's attention to him.

"Kalani," she replied, "Lavellan."

"I am pleased to see you still live," Solas said with a friendly smile.

Kalani blinked at him. "Um…Thanks?"

"He means 'I kept that mark from killing you while you slept'," Varric clarified. Kalani turned from Varric to face Solas in surprise.

"Thank you," she said. "You…Seem to know a great deal about it all."

"Solas is an apostate," Cassandra spoke up, apparently recovered from Varric's light teasing.

"Technically _all_ mages are now apostates, Cassandra." Solas seemed to be smiling no matter the topic. Though, Kalani supposed, he did make a good point. He fixed her with that penetrating stare once more, like he could see right through her earthly form to her spirit inside. She squirmed uncomfortably. Solas didn't seem to notice. "My travels have allowed me to learn much of the Fade. _Far_ beyond the experience of any Circle mage." He seemed proud of that. "I came to offer whatever help I can give with the Breach," he touched a hand to his chest. "If it is not closed we are all doomed regardless of origin." He raised his arms slightly to indicate their small group.

"Well, then, I'm glad you came," Kalani told him earnestly, "or I might be dead right now."

"And we wouldn't want that," Solas said, a touch of mischief in his eyes as he gave her a faint smile. "Cassandra, you should know," he said, turning to face her, "the magic involved here is unlike any I've seen. I find it difficult to imagine your prisoner having anything to do with it."

"Understood," Cassandra said with a reluctant sigh. Kalani felt a twinge of annoyance that the Seeker had seemingly set her hopes so solidly on her being the culprit. "We must get to the forward camp quickly." Cassandra started off immediately, not looking back to check if the others were following. Solas rushed after her, all business, but Kalani hesitated. A knowledgeable mage vouched for her innocence, but still, Cassandra didn't seem inclined to accept that. What if they closed the Breach and she still insisted on putting Kalani on trial? She had no evidence to prove her innocence. She couldn't even remember what had happened to herself.

"Well," said Varric from behind her. She glanced down at him as he stepped to her side, smiling up at her, "Bianca's happy."

* * *

They pushed further into the valley, meeting more and more resistance from demons and spirits that spilled from the Breach and its tears in the Fade.

"So," Varric started conversationally as they climbed a rocky slope. Tall pine trees swayed in the wind, the breeze lifting the scent of resin and pine needles and burning wood into the air, " _are_ you innocent?"

"What sort of a question is that?!" Kalani cried, staring back at him, and then she sighed and shook her head, shrugging her narrow shoulders. "I don't remember what happened," she admitted.

"That'll get you every time," Varric chuckled. "Should have spun a story."

"That's what _you_ would have done," Cassandra commented, derision obvious in her voice.

"It's more believable," Varric said. "And less prone to result in premature execution."

"If you execute me, I _will_ haunt you forever," Kalani warned the Seeker, pausing to look back at her.

"I will bear that in mind," Cassandra replied drily, eyes on the ground in front of her as she carefully navigated the icy slope.

"Rift ahead," Solas informed them, nodding his head in the direction of the green glow.

As Kalani turned to look she heard shouts of alarm, the screech of a shade. She rushed forwards, drawing her swords as she ran towards a gatehouse nestled between rock formations that formed a natural wall across the road.

"Help us!" A soldier cried out as he caught sight of her. Shades swarmed them, clawing their way out of the rift. Rapidly fired arrows whistled past her, shot from Varric's crossbow, followed by glittering ice projectiles sent through the air by Solas. Kalani dropped into a slide, skidding through the snow passed the first shade, coming up behind it and ramming both blades into its back. She heard the clang of Cassandra's shield striking something solid as she turned to the second shade. She slashed and moved on, striking at enemies that had been struck by Varric's arrows and Solas' magic to finish them off.

"Hurry, use the mark!" Solas called from the edge of the battle as the final demons fell beneath the blades of the soldiers. Kalani sheathed her swords and whirled, thrusting out her palm at the crackling rift, copying the motion Solas had performed for her on the first one. The mark connected and energy built once more. Kalani grit her teeth, feeling the mark draining her strength to feed whatever magic it was using to close the rift. She staggered as the portal collapsed, and doubled over, hands grasping her knees as she steadied her breath.

"The rift is gone, open the gate," Cassandra ordered.

"Right away, Lady Cassandra," a voice replied from the parapets and seconds later the door was creaking open to reveal the forward camp.

* * *

"Ah! Here they come." The man that had spoken wore Chantry robes and carried an air of misguided self-importance. Kalani immediately disliked him. He stood at a rough wooden table beside Leliana, both studying a map of the valley. Behind them was a tent of heavy canvas, a Chantry banner on a pole beside the entrance. He pushed off from the table and glowered. He had a face that suggested he glowered at everyone.

"You made it," Leliana said with relief, and glanced at the man beside her. "Chancellor Roderick, this is-"

"I _know_ who she is," he all but sneered, turning his attention onto the approaching group. Kalani quirked one eyebrow, dark green eyes flicking between Leliana and Chancellor Roderick. "As grand chancellor of the Chantry," he puffed up his chest, "I hereby order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux," here he jabbed a finger in Kalani's direction, "to face execution." He finished off with a soft smirk, eyes on Cassandra.

Kalani opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind when Cassandra stepped forward with an expression of barely concealed rage on her face, "Order me?" She demanded. "You are a glorified clerk!" Kalani grinned and looked to Roderick, watching him deflate. "A bureaucrat."

"And you are a thug," Roderick shot back, skin flushed with anger, "but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry."

"We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor," Leliana interjected. "As you well know."

"I don't," Kalani muttered, and Varric elbowed her in the ribs.

"Shhh!"

"Justinia is _dead_!" Roderick threw his hands up into the air in frustration, taking several short breaths to calm himself. When he spoke again, it was in a much more level tone, "we must elect her replacement and obey _her_ orders on the matter."

"Um, isn't closing the Breach the more pressing issue?" Kalani asked incredulously. Roderick looked shocked that she would dare address him.

" _You_ brought this upon us in the first place!" He snarled, pointing an accusing finger at her. Cassandra moved forwards to lean on the table, glancing over the map displayed on its wooden surface. "Call a retreat, Seeker," he begged her. "Our position here is hopeless."

"We can stop this before it's too late," she replied, touching the tips of her fingers to the map.

"How?" Roderick cried. "You won't survive long enough to reach the temple even with all your soldiers."

"We _must_ get to the temple," Cassandra said emphatically, "it's the quickest route."

"But not the safest," Leliana spoke up. "Our forces can charge as a distraction while we go through the mountains." She raised one gloved hand to point into the mountains visible in the near distance.

"We lost contact with an entire squad on that path, it's too risky." Cassandra said, shaking her head in disagreement.

"Listen to me," Roderick stepped closer, clasping his hands anxiously before himself as he looked at Cassandra, "abandon this now, before more lives are lost."

The Breach pulsed suddenly brighter, shockwaves spreading outwards. As they reached the camp Kalani felt the energy build in her hand, burning white hot as the light flared against her skin. She uttered a pained gasp, clutching at her wrist until the pain subsided and the mark faded to a dull glow.

When she looked up her gaze met that of Cassandra's. The Seeker's mind was made up.

"We will charge," she announced. "I doubt Kalani will survive much longer. Whatever happens, happens now."

"Thanks," Kalani grumbled, though she felt in her heart that Cassandra was right. Her hand ached, the pain travelling the length of her arm and into her chest. Deep, throbbing pain that she could no longer ignore.

Cassandra turned away to face Leliana, "Bring everyone left in the valley. _Everyone_." Leliana bowed her head and moved off to do so, mail coat gleaming in the light from the Breach.

Roderick watched them go with a glare, but couldn't resist a parting barb, "on your head be the consequences, _Seeker_."

Cassandra made no reply.

* * *

The weather worsened as the climbed higher into the mountains, snow driving down upon them in blinding flurries that felt like tiny cold knife-pricks against their skin as the wind gusted. Trees and rubble lay half buried in snowy craters, discarded and flattened by the blast that had formed the Breach. Buildings half destroyed loomed out of the snow as dark jagged shapes, flickering fires casting odd shadows and distorting their surroundings. All around them the strange green comets streaked across the sky from the Breach, crashing down to earth with dull thuds and muffled booms.

They fought their way through the shattered remains of the outer structures of the temple complex and emerged into a courtyard strewn with broken rock and stone from the buildings. Black rock shards rose upwards, spiderwebs of green magic flaring, fading, flaring, repeatedly against the dark stone. Hanging in the centre of the area was another rift. Kalani made short work of it.

"You are becoming quite proficient at this," Solas said as he came to stand beside her, nodding his head in admiration, seemingly oblivious to the weakened state it had left her in.

"Let's hope it works on the big one," Varric commented, eyeing up the spot the rift had previously occupied.

"Lady Cassandra!" Kalani looked towards the new voice to see a tall armoured man wrapped in a thick fur-lined cloak approaching them. "You managed to close the rift! Well done."

"Do not congratulate me, commander," Cassandra replied, looking back at Kalani. "This is the prisoner's doing."

Kalani saw surprise flicker over the new-comer's handsome face.

"Is it?" He asked, eyes flicking to Kalani and taking her in, head to toe, before meeting her gaze. "I hope they're right about you." Apparently, word travelled fast amongst the Seeker's forces. "We've lost a lot of people getting you here." The accusation was obvious in his voice. Kalani was starting to feel fed up of being blamed for everything. She was a Dalish, investigating the Conclave for her people. The sole survivor of a magical explosion. And now every death was somehow her fault.

"We shall see," she replied stiffly.

"We shall," he said, ignoring the challenge in her tone and turning back to Cassandra. "The way to the temple should be clear. Leliana will try to meet you there." His voice was calm and clear, a man used to giving orders on the battlefield.

"Then we'd best move quickly," Cassandra spoke loudly, urgently. Time was limited and failure wasn't an option. "Give us time, Commander." The way she watched Kalani suggested she felt the elf's time was fading faster than their own.

"Maker watch over you," he said bleakly as his soldiers moved out, "for all our sakes." Kalani watched him rush after a wounded soldier, limping after his comrades, and wrap an arm around the man to support him. A commander who cared. That was much too rare.

"Come," Cassandra's voice, sharp across the emptying courtyard. Kalani turned away to face her, to find the Seeker gesturing for her to hurry up. Kalani jogged over, boots crunching on shattered stone and snow. The others stood at the edge of the courtyard, sheered off from the rest of the temple by the magical explosion that had birthed the Breach. Several feet below was the crater, the remains of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. More of the black tainted rock shards reached skywards, larger than those in the courtyard. Stone fingers pushed up from beneath the ground to grasp blindly at the heavens. Dotted around the blackened temple grounds were corpses trapped in the pugilist pose, shrivelled bodies still ablaze.

Kalani felt her chest constrict as she dropped down into the crater, a sense of unease settling over her like a weighted blanket. The unnaturalness, the _wrongness_ of the scene before them could be sensed by the most magically inept individual. The charge in the air was heavy. Above them hung the Breach, huge and angry, expanding even as they watched. Kalani felt the fine hairs along her arms and at the back of her neck prickle, a shudder running down her spine, as she took in the horror surrounding her. She had no idea what could cause such an abomination. What magic could detonate with such power that it could rip open the Veil and level everything within a radius of several miles?

"The Temple of Sacred Ashes…" Solas spoke softly, stunned. He no longer smiled.

"What's left of it," Varric said bitterly.

"That is where you walked out of the Fade," Cassandra told her. "And our soldiers found you."

People kept saying that, but seeing what had become of the temple, Kalani felt they must be mistaken. Nothing was left. The temple had been pulverised. A few walls still stood but everywhere she looked was crushed stonework, corpses burned and blackened beyond recognition. _How_? How was she still alive?

The mark in her palm sent a spike of pain into her chest, reminding her that she wouldn't be living much longer.

"This is…insane…" Kalani breathed, walking slowly through the carnage. With each step the feeling of dread increased. Every instinct desperately told her to turn and run as far away as she could. But she knew she couldn't. The mark on her hand had sealed the rifts. There was a good chance it would seal the Breach. Maybe her dying act would be to stop this insanity before it could take hold fully. She didn't want to die, but if her life could prevent the Breach from expanding and swallowing the world whole? Well, then, it would be a good death. A warrior's death.

As they walked through what was left of a corridor, the view before them opened up to reveal another rift. This one had a stream of coiling green light attached to it that moved up, up, up, to the Breach wheeling high above them, emitting noises like thunder crashing and rumbling as green light flashed in the clouds surrounding it.

Kalani felt the need to escape with a primal intensity. She swallowed, working moisture into her dry mouth, and forced herself to step forwards.

"You're here! Thank the Maker." Leliana jogged towards them. A strung bow and quiver of arrows was slung across one shoulder.

"Leliana, have your men take up positions around the temple," Cassandra ordered. Leliana nodded and hurried back to her scouts to relay the orders.

Kalani could hear ethereal whispers all around herself. She strained her ears to catch the words but the harder she tried the less the whispering sounded like recognisable language. Cassandra stepped in front of her, blocking out the view of the rift.

"This is your chance to end this," she said, face composed. But her dark eyes betrayed her worry. "Are you ready?"

"It's kind of high up…"

"This rift was the first," Solas said, watching the green shards shift outwards and inwards with a sound like scraping knives, "and it is the key." He turned his attention to Kalani and his stare was intense. She shifted her weight nervously. "Seal it and perhaps we seal the Breach."

"Let's do this…" Kalani muttered, moving off along the balcony they stood on to find a way down into the pit the rift and the Breach hovered above. The stone around them hummed with energy, glowed green with dark magic. It filled the air with a static energy.

" _Now is the hour of our victory_ ," the deep voice rumbled around them, distorted and echoing strangely. " _Bring forth the sacrifice._ "

"What are we hearing…?" Cassandra asked anxiously.

"You hear it too?" Kalani asked with relief.

"At a guess?" Solas said. "The person who created the breach."

Red crystals jutted upwards from the ground as they wound their way downwards. It gleamed in the light and seemed to pulse. Kalani steered well clear, feeling the instinct to flee once again. It was with effort that she forced one foot in front of the other to keep going. A glance back at the others told her, in their tight expressions, that they too felt the urge.

"You know this stuff is red lyrium, Seeker?" Varric hissed.

"I see it, Varric," Cassandra replied, voice strong and calm despite everything around them.

"But what's it _doing_ here?" Varric was having a much harder time keeping his emotions in check.

"Magic could have drawn on lyrium beneath the temple," Solas suggested, "corrupted it."

"It's evil," Varric said. "Whatever you do? Don't touch it."

"Don't touch the creepy red rocks," Kalani said, throwing a look at him over her shoulder. "Got it." She saw him scowl at her.

" _Keep the sacrifice still_ ," the deep voice again. It made Kalani's skin crawl.

"I hope you don't still think was me?" She said, glancing at Cassandra as they climbed down the remnants of a stone stair case. The voice was clearly not hers.

" _Someone, help me_!"

"That is Divine Justinia's voice!" Cassandra cried, dark eyes going wide. The stairs ended abruptly as the floor had evidently collapsed. Kalani jumped down into the pit, eyes on the rift before them. Pain flared in her hand and the mark gleamed with angry green light, crackling and spitting magic. Kalani grit her teeth and glared down at it. As she raised her hand the rift seemed to move faster, agitated by the close proximity of Kalani.

" _Someone, help me_!" Justinia's voice came again.

" _What's going on here_?" Kalani felt a stab of alarm as she recognised her own voice.

"That was your voice." Cassandra stared at the elf in shock. "Most Holy called out to you, but-"

The rift gave a loud crack, magic beginning to arc outwards from it. Kalani took an anxious step back, and then light flared brilliant white. As her vision cleared she saw shapes materialising before her, faded and wispy like smoke. The Divine locked in some kind of magical force field, unable to move. A shadowy demon looming before her, and then…Kalani herself.

" _What's going on here_?" Her shade-self asked again.

" _Run while you can_!" Justinia cried desperately. " _Warn them_!"

" _We have an intruder_ ," rumbled the demon, " _slay the elf_."

The rift flashed white again and the illusion was gone.

"You _were_ there!" Cassandra said, voice going shrill. "Who attacked?" She lunged towards Kalani. "And the Divine, is she-? _Was_ this vision true? _What_ are we seeing?"

"I don't remember!" Kalani shouted, stepping closer to Cassandra as frustration bubbled inside her. "Don't you think I'd like to know, myself?!"

"Echoes of what happened here," Solas' soft voice cut across her before an argument could properly break out. Kalani looked past Cassandra to see Solas approaching the rift. He planted his staff on the ground before himself and placed both hands on the grip, tipping back his head to watch the green shards moving. "The Fade bleeds into this place. This rift is not sealed, but it is closed. Albeit temporarily." He turned to face Kalani. "I believe that with the mark, the rift can be opened. And then sealed properly and safely. However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side."

"That means demons," Cassandra shouted out to the soldiers that had taken up position around the temple. "Stand ready!"

"You really want me to open this thing…?" Kalani asked nervously.

"It is the only way," Solas said.

Around them, steel rang as swords were drawn, bow staves creaked as arrows were nocked and pulled back. Kalani flexed her fingers and glanced sideways at Cassandra, drawing one sword and leaving her left hand free for the moment. Cassandra nodded once and drew her own sword, her shield already strapped to her arm.

Kalani took a deep breath in through her mouth, let it out slowly, and reached up with her left hand. The rift connected, this time being forced open. There was a crack as of breaking glass and light exploded outwards, ripping into the Veil. The hulking form of a pride demon leaped out of the Fade, the size of a small building and all bony plates and jagged horns. Kalani felt her stomach drop into her boots.

"Oh, bugger…" She muttered, drawing her second sword even as the magical aftershocks vibrated through her arm.

"Now!" Cassandra shouted, raising her sword high. As she swung downwards, the archers that had taken the high ground around the pit loosed their shafts. Arrows whistled as they flew through the air, striking the pride demon from all directions. Some clattered harmlessly from his toughened skin, but most struck home and left him with a bristly hide of wood and fletching. The demon roared, more in rage than pain, and reared up to its full height, summoning crackling blue lightning between its claws. It slammed two great fists down on the ground, hard enough for the earth to shudder, and discharged an electrical wave that travelled towards the group gathered in the pit. Solas swung his staff, casting a barrier spell that blocked the magical attack in a flash of white light.

As the demon lumbered forward, claws grasping for the soldiers that rushed around it, Kalani sprinted across the field of battle, coming up behind the demon and charging in, blades flashing as she struck at its feet. Arrows flew around her, barbed heads driving through thickened skin, or hitting bone plates and spinning away. Ice magic exploded against the demon, showering her in crystals that glittered as they fell. Solas hurled his spells into the demon's face to blind and disorient, or at its feet to trip and slow. The soldiers dodged around heavy hands and slashed at the demon's legs and belly, leaping away as it tried to catch them.

The demon barred its fangs and snarled, raising one leg up, spiny knee to muscular chest. Kalani threw herself backwards as the soldiers scattered and the massive foot crashed down, missing one of the soldiers by inches.

Electricity sparked along the demon's arms, forming into twin whips that he snapped outwards at the gathered soldiers. Kalani ducked and felt one zip by overhead, saw the light pass across the ground she crouched on. She glanced up to see Cassandra dance back out of reach as the second whip struck a line of soldiers with a deafening crack and a blinding white flash as the magic was channelled through their steel breastplates and, with no where else to go, through their bodies. The soldiers were thrown through the air and hit the ground heavily where they lay still, corpses smoking from the heat of the strike.

Kalani rolled sideways, feeling the demon approaching her position through the tremors in the ground. Seconds later a giant foot slammed down beside her. She leaped up and hacked angrily at the demon, dodging back as she felt the arc energy building again, preparing to discharge.

"It's weakening!" Solas called as a hail of arrows thudded home again and brought the demon to its knees.

"Now! Seal the rift!" Cassandra cried, looking back at Kalani. "Do it!"

Kalani threw one sword down and reached for the rift, left palm up and fingers splayed. Green energy latched onto her mark with magic so potent it caught her off guard and she gasped, stumbling but refusing to break the connection. It felt as though every hair on her body was standing on end as the rift fought her, refusing to close. But it was losing the battle. As the mark drew on her energy she sensed the rift collapsing, the tear sealing. The muscles in her left arm began to seize, starting in her forearm and travelling to her shoulder, locking as though the pride demon had hit her with its lightning whip. The roaring of the rift grew more shrill, now sounding like it was screaming, and then it collapsed in on itself, disappearing into a point of light as the Breach's vortex retreated upwards, streaking into the sky above. It struck the Breach with a sound like a skyquake that reverberated off the mountains, brilliant green light flashing bright and turning the sky emerald for the briefest of moments.

Kalani heard a ringing in her ears as the earth seemed to tilt beneath her feet. She felt as though she were underwater, her vision growing dark around the edges as the ground rushed up to meet her.

And then her world turned black.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, here is Kalani's beginning as the Inquisitor!**


	3. Paving the Way

Wind rattling thin wooden panels, gusting through cracks in the door and walls, and through thin window panes in icy blasts. Warmth from a fire that crackled low in a hearth nearby. Warm bed. Thin blankets. Strange surroundings.

Kalani had awoken to find dark wooden rafters above her instead of swirling angry green clouds. She had been unconscious for three days after sealing the Breach. Or, rather, she discovered, she had halted the spread of the Breach and promptly passed out. Her mark had stopped growing, and that meant, she was relieved to find out, it was no longer killing her. But the Breach was still there, an ominous green scar in the sky, waiting. Waiting… For what, she couldn't say.

She was no longer a prisoner. Instead, her attempt to seal the Breach had given her a new title: Hero. Whispers followed her as she made her way through Haven. Kind words, this time. Words of awe and…a name. People addressed her now as Herald of Andraste.

Kalani approached the Chantry in a state of shock. How things had changed while she had been unconscious. The last time she had walked through Haven its occupants had barely held themselves back from knifing her where she stood.

She pushed open the heavy wooden doors and stepped inside, letting the doors swing shut behind her. The resultant _boom_ echoed through the long room as Kalani's eyes found the single small door she was looking for and she made her way forwards. Cassandra had asked to meet with her in the private chamber at the back of the Chantry. And if she hadn't known what room she was expected in, the muffled shouting would have given it away.

She sighed and reached out a hand, shoving the door open and striding forwards to find Chancellor Roderick harassing Cassandra and Leliana.

"Chain her!" He ordered the second she entered the room, passing between two templars who stood still enough to pass as decorative statues. "I want her prepared for travel to the capital for trial." He jabbed a finger in Kalani's direction, eyes screwed up in disgust.

Kalani faltered and tipped her head to one side, green eyes flicking between Cassandra and Leliana as she tensed in anticipation of strong armoured hands grasping her arms and dragging her off to a cell.

Cassandra, hunched over the large wooden desk that took up most of the room, dropped her gaze to the table in exasperation. Leliana stood beside her, quietly watching with her arms folded over her chest. Her hood was up, shadowing her face. Her posture was relaxed, but her eyes were alert, shining bright with intelligence from behind fiery red bangs.

"Disregard that," Cassandra said loudly, pushing off from the table to stand at her full height and fixing the templars with an imperious stare. "And leave us."

The templars each struck a mailed fist to their breastplates, turned smartly on their heels and left, closing the door behind them.

Roderick barely concealed the tremor of rage that ran through him as he glared at Cassandra, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as though he were seriously considering lashing out.

"You walk a dangerous line, Seeker," he said softly, prowling around the table. Kalani bit the inside of her lips and turned her face away to hide a grin, supposing he thought himself threatening. Cassandra didn't seem to notice his attempts to unnerve her.

"The Breach is stable, but it is still a threat," she told him, her words clipped. He irritated her and she wasn't afraid to let him know it. Kalani wasn't entirely sure of the hierarchy within the chantry, but if Roderick really were Cassandra's superior, as he seemed to think, then her tone bordered on insubordination. Though, really, she suspected Roderick just assumed he was above everyone he came across. He would probably expect the Ferelden king Alistair to grovel at his feet too.

"I will _not_ ignore it," Cassandra continued.

"I did everything I could to close the Breach and it almost killed me," Kalani said, annoyed that her efforts had seemingly been in vain. She still felt weakened by whatever magic had drawn from her. If she and her mark couldn't close the Breach, then really what could they expect to do?

"And yet, you live!" Roderick replied, as though outraged that she had the audacity to survive. Kalani arched one eyebrow, brilliant green eyes flicking to him. "A convenient result insofar as you're concerned."

"Have a care, Chancellor," Cassandra said slowly, dark eyes menacing. "The Breach is not the only threat we face." She shook her head to emphasise the point.

" _Someone_ was behind the explosion at the Conclave," Leliana finally spoke, dropping her arms to her sides and moving forwards to face Roderick. "Someone Most Holy did not expect. Perhaps they died with the others, _or_ ," she fixed her icy blues pointedly on Roderick, "they have an ally that yet lives." She made no move to threaten him, her posture was casual and her voice soft, and yet somehow she still managed to appear intimidating. Kalani felt a chill go through her. Leliana was not someone to be trifled with.

" _I_ am a _suspect_?!" Roderick cried, touching a hand to his chest, astounded that anyone could come to such a conclusion.

" _You_ ," Leliana all but spat, "and many others."

"But not the _prisoner_ ," Roderick threw a contemptuous look Kalani's way. She met his eyes levelly, not balking under his stare. A small rebellion, but satisfying nonetheless.

"I heard the voices in the temple," Cassandra said, looking from Roderick to Kalani. "The Divine called to her for help."

"So, her survival, that thing on her hand?" Roderick crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his head back as though he had won the argument. "All a coincidence?"

"Providence," Cassandra answered. "The Maker sent her to us in our darkest hour."

Kalani nodded in agreement, and then froze as she realised just what Cassandra had just said, and stared at the Seeker.

"Wait, what?" Sent by the Maker? What was _that_ supposed to mean? And then the true meaning of her words sunk in. While the rest of Haven seemed to have already forgiven her, she had expected Cassandra to still be looking for ways to blame her. "You've changed your tune about me."

Cassandra pursed her lips and let out a short breath through her nose.

"I admit I was wrong," she said with difficulty. "Perhaps I still am." Kalani frowned, mulling that over. "I will not, however, pretend you were not exactly what we needed, _when_ we needed it." She turned away from Kalani and stalked into the corner, busying herself with something they couldn't see amongst the shelves and draws hidden away in the shadows. Leliana took her place, stepping forwards and fixing Kalani with her intense gaze.

"The Breach remains," she said. "And your mark remains our only hope of closing it."

"This is not for you to decide!" Roderick insisted angrily.

Cassandra pushed between them and slammed a heavy book down on the table. It banged loudly as it struck the worn wood, and Roderick jumped slightly in surprise. It was a thick, leather-bound book with silver fittings. In the middle of the front cover was the stylized solar disk of the Chantry, embossed in tarnished silver that gleamed in the light of flickering torches.

"You know what this is, Chancellor," she said, placing one finger against the cover and locking eyes with Roderick. "A writ from the Divine, granting us the authority to act. As of this moment, I declare the Inquisition reborn. We will close the Breach," she moved towards Roderick, an imposing figure in her polished armour, with her fierce stare. He hurriedly backed off, but she followed, raising a finger and jabbing it towards him. "We will find those responsible," she prodded him in the chest, and he rocked back on his heels, wincing ever so slightly, "and we will restore order, with or without your approval." Roderick finally stood his ground, eyes darting from Cassandra, to Kalani, to Leliana. Finding only resistance in their eyes he turned tail and fled without a word.

Cassandra shook her head in disgust and turned her back on him as the door was wrenched open and slammed behind the retreating Chancellor. She raised a hand to the back of her head and rubbed at her short hair, looking down at the floor in dismay.

"This is the Divine's directive," Leliana said reverently, indicating the book Cassandra had brought forth. "Rebuild the Inquisition of old. Find those who will stand against the chaos," she looked up at Kalani. "We aren't ready. We have no leader. No numbers. And now, no Chantry support." She shook her head.

"But we have no choice," Cassandra said. "We _must_ act now. With you at our side," she raised her dark eyes to Kalani, and they burned with hope.

Kalani had heard stories of the Inquisition. She knew it existed long ago, a noble organization standing for order amongst chaos, but that was all she could remember. However, she also knew that whatever was happening in Thedas was much bigger than her and what she wanted (which was to run back to her clan and pretend none of this had happened). She had the mark on her hand, and it was capable of closing rifts and disrupting the Breach.

"You're trying to restore order?" She asked. Thedas was broken. The loss of the Divine, the opening of the Breach and the rifts and the demons that were spilling from the Fade, would bring only chaos and war.

"That is the plan," Leliana said simply.

"Help us fix this," Cassandra said, extending one hand to Kalani, "before it's too late."

Kalani hesitated a moment, uncertain, before finally grasping Cassandra's hand and shaking it firmly. When she glanced up she found the Seeker smiling at her, the first time such an expression had graced her usually stern face.

* * *

Kalani was outside the Chantry, sat on a log that had been pulled up close to the fire that blazed outside several tents. Varric sat beside her, gloved hands stretched out towards the flames to feel their warmth. He glanced back towards the Chantry behind them as he heard the doors rattle open, to see the hooded figure of Leliana thrust an arm into the air, sending two ravens flapping up into the sky. Tiny metal cylinders containing rolls of parchment with simple messages inscribed onto them would be strapped to a leg each.

"Leliana's calling the banners," the dwarf joked, watching the birds as they climbed higher into the bleached white sky. Kalani leaned back on the log to peer over the tents at the ravens, gradually becoming black specks amongst the clouds.

"What? Two?" She asked in amusement, looking sideways at Varric.

"Those won't be the only messages going out," he replied. Kalani grunted and leaned her forearms across her thighs, staring into the fire as wood cracked and popped and sent embers spiralling upwards.

"So, what now?" She asked, turning her head to look at the dwarf. The fire felt pleasantly hot against her face, chasing away the wintry chill in the air.

"Now?" Varric asked, turning his gaze from Kalani's eyes to the fire before them. "We wait."

* * *

The Chantry was silent save for their boots, thudding against the smooth flagstones that made up the floor, and the soft clink of belt buckles against armour. Cassandra led Kalani through the holy building to the chamber in the back where Roderick had unsuccessfully attempted to arrest the elf days earlier. She looked sideways at Kalani as she noticed the elf lifting her left hand and flexing her fingers, clearly thinking about her strange magical mark. The reason she was here.

"Does it trouble you?" Cassandra asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. Kalani glanced at her, confused by the question coming seemingly out of the blue. "The mark," she clarified, nodding her head towards Kalani's hand.

"No," Kalani said almost immediately, hooking her thumbs into her belt and looking away. Cassandra sensed she was lying.

"What's important now is that your mark is stable," she said. "As is the Breach. You've given us time, and Solas believes a second attempt will succeed. Provided the mark has more power. The same level of power used to open the Breach in the first place. That is not easy to come by."

"What harm can there be in powering up something we barely understand?" Kalani asked, shooting Cassandra a playful grin.

"Hold on to that sense of humour," Cassandra replied with a smile, pushing open the door to what had become the war room for the Inquisition. Kalani followed her inside where three people stood waiting for her. Leliana and Cullen she had already met. The third, an Antivan woman by the looks of her, she had seen around but not spoken to. Olive skin, dark eyes, darker hair. She held a board in one hand, on which was stuck a candle and ink well, and a sheet of parchment covered in writing. In her other hand, held between fingers smudged with black ink, was a stylus.

Her green eyes flicked between the trio, settled on the Antivan who was eyeing her curiously, darted to Cassandra as she spoke.

"You've met Commander Cullen, leader of the Inquisition's forces," she said, and Cullen inclined his head, smiling pleasantly at Kalani in greeting.

"It was only for a moment on the field," he said, "I'm pleased you survived."

Kalani frowned slightly. He clearly meant it genuinely, and that amused her, because it was a strange thing to say.

"Um…Thank you," she said, before Cassandra moved on.

"This is Lady Josephine Montilyet," she gestured to the Antivan with one arm, "our ambassador and chief diplomat."

Josephine smiled warmly at Kalani, her candle casting flickering shadows over her face.

" _Andaran atish'an_ ," she said. Kalani blinked in surprise, taken aback.

"You speak elven?!" She cried.

"You just heard the entirety of it, I'm afraid," Josephine said with a soft laugh, dipping her head as Kalani continued to stare. "It's a pleasure to meet you, at last."

"And of course, you know Sister Leliana," Cassandra continued. Leliana met Kalani's gaze as the elf looked away from Josephine.

"My position here involves a degree of-"

"She is our spymaster," Cassandra spoke over her bluntly.

"Yes," Leliana cocked her head as she regarded the Seeker, and laced her fingers behind her back. "Tactfully put, Cassandra."

"Your secret's safe with me," Kalani winked at the spymaster. Leliana's eyebrow twitched in response, the only break in her carefully guarded expression. Kalani cleared her throat awkwardly and looked between Cullen and Josephine instead. "A pleasure to meet you all," she said politely.

"I mentioned that your mark needs more power to close the Breach for good," Cassandra said. Kalani looked down at her left palm, hidden now by a soft leather glove, and wondered how Cassandra intended to charge it. She knew mages sometimes used a focus, a magically charged item, to draw power from, but that was an _item_. She was a person. She couldn't charge the mark herself…could she?

"Which means we must approach the rebel mages for help," Leliana said in agreement. The obvious choice in terms of magical issues.

"I still disagree," Cullen shook his head, resting one hand on the pommel of the sword hanging from his belt. "The templars could serve just as well."

Cassandra let out a sigh of frustration. Apparently they had already had this argument. Maybe several times over. "We need power, Commander. Enough magic poured into that mark-"

"Might destroy us all," Cullen finished, voice tinged with frustration. "Templars could suppress the Breach, weaken it so-"

"Pure speculation," Leliana cut across him, shaking her head at the commander.

" _I_ was a templar," Cullen explained slowly, as though Leliana were simple. "I know what they're capable of."

"Unfortunately, neither group will speak to us yet," Josephine interjected, gesturing with her pen as she spoke. "The Chantry has denounced the Inquisition, and you specifically," she indicated Kalani with the tip of her pen. Kalani cocked her head to one side, brows knitting in confusion.

"Me?" She asked, and sighed. "They still think I'm guilty?" Of causing the explosion, of killing the Divine…and probably a multitude of other unrelated things. She should have known spying on the conclave was a terrible idea. Getting involved in human affairs, even to simply look and listen, was just asking for trouble.

"That is not the entirety of it any longer," Josephine shook her head. "Some are calling you-a Dalish elf-the 'Herald of Andraste' and that frightens the Chantry." Kalani's eyes widened in shock. "The remaining clerics have declared it blasphemy, and we heretics for harbouring you."

"Chancellor Roderick's doing, no doubt," Cassandra said bitterly.

"It limits our options," Josephine said. "Approaching the templars or mages for help is currently out of the question."

"Wait, wait, wait," Kalani spluttered, holding up her hands to halt the conversation that, despite the weight of the words was entirely too casual. "Just how am _I_ the Herald of Andraste?" The words felt wrong in her mouth. Herald of Andraste. She. Kalani, the Herald of Andraste. People were really saying that?

"People saw what you did at the temple," Kalani looked at Cassandra as she spoke, "how you stopped the Breach from growing. They have also heard about the woman seen in the rift when we first found you. They believe that was Andraste."

Kalani listened in disbelief. Andraste? No, that wasn't right. _Couldn't_ be right. She knew her elven gods weren't the only gods. There were countless gods and goddesses amongst the races of Thedas. But _Andraste_?

"Even if we tried to stop that view from spreading," Leliana drew her dazed attention now.

"Which we have not," Cassandra interrupted to say, and the spymaster's gaze flicked to the Seeker briefly before coolly meeting Kalani's eyes again.

"The point is, _everyone_ is talking about you."

"It's quite the title, isn't it?" Cullen asked with a grin, and Kalani blinked at him. He seemed excited by the idea. "How do you feel about that?" Kalani's stomach clenched, and her mind frantically rejected the idea before she could contemplate it further.

"I'm not the Herald of Andraste!" She insisted. She had thought about the person in the rift a lot, wondered who it could be. Ghilan'Nain, she had assumed at first, her patron goddess, but the more she considered it, the more she realised that couldn't be true. The glowing humanoid shape she had seen in the rift had been wearing robes and one of those Chantry hats worn by the Divine. She always thought they looked ridiculous. Then again, they probably thought the same about her vallaslin, the swirling patterns that marked her face for Ghilan'Nain, the Mother of the Halla. And if Ghilan'Nain had been in the rift behind her, then surely the soldiers would have reported seeing a halla behind her…

"No?" Cullen asked with an amused smile. "You don't sound so sure…"

Kalani looked at him desperately. She really couldn't be the Herald of Andraste…could she? Could a Dalish elf be chosen by Andraste, the human holy leader?

"Well, I'm sure the Chantry would agree," he continued playfully.

"People are desperate for a sign of hope," Leliana said. "For some, you're that sign."

"And to others, a symbol of everything that's gone wrong," Josephine spoke for the other end of the spectrum. Kalani regarded her with a raised eyebrow, now unsure which side she preferred.

"Blame the elf," Kalani rolled her eyes. It had always been so. On more than one occasion she had witnessed her people being blamed for things they couldn't possibly have done. And when those elves were vindicated, there was never an apology in sight. "The Breach isn't gone. Shouldn't that be _everyone_ 's primary concern?"

"It is," Cullen said. "They know it's a threat. They just don't think _we_ can stop it."

"The Chantry is telling everyone you'll make it worse," Josephine told her in no uncertain terms and Kalani heaved a weary sigh, shaking her head in dismay.

"Of course they are," she muttered.

"There is something you could do," Josephine said. Kalani looked up at her helpful tone. "A Chantry cleric by the name of Mother Giselle has asked to speak to you. She is not far, and knows those involved far better than I. Her assistance could be invaluable."

"She knows I'm a heretic, right?" Kalani spoke slowly, one eyebrow raised as she regarded Leliana with disbelief. "You've just been telling me about how much the Chantry hates me and now a cleric wants to talk to me? To offer _help_? It's got to be trap, right?"

"I assure you, it's no trap," Leliana told her, smiling softly at the elf's confusion. "I understand she's a reasonable sort. Perhaps she does not agree with her sisters?"

"I suppose it can't hurt to meet with her…" Kalani grudgingly agreed.

"You'll find her tending to the wounded in the Hinterlands near Redcliffe." Leliana tapped one gloved fingertip against the large map pinned to the table top in front of them, indicating the area Mother Giselle was located in. Kalani nodded once and stepped back, eyes moving from Leliana to Cassandra.

"I'll get ready to move out," she announced. "Let's see what she has to say.

* * *

The land around Redcliffe was usually peaceful. The wide open plains were used mainly for farming, and the hills and cliffs teemed with wildlife. But it had become a battleground for the war that raged between mages and templars and neither side seemed to care who was caught in the middle of it. Many refugees fleeing the conflict from elsewhere seemed to wind up victims of the bitter fighting. Their corpses littered the road sides.

Kalani felt sick as her horse, a chestnut brown Ferelden Forder, carried her ever onwards. So much destruction and senseless loss of life. They had passed the remains of a farmstead further down the road. The buildings still smouldered, the crops and livestock stolen or destroyed. The owners and their workers…well. The less said the better.

"They could at least fight just amongst themselves," she remarked bitterly, earning herself several confused looks from her companions. "The mages and the templars," she clarified, gesturing towards the hill they were passing beneath. Black smoke coiled upwards from somewhere beyond its crest. "They're lashing out at everyone around themselves, whether its warranted or not."

"They are at war," Cassandra replied darkly. "War is never confined to just those who fight. It's messy and spills out amongst the innocent parties."

The elf had nothing to say about that, and instead chose to glower ahead, rocking in her hard leather saddle from the lazy motion of her horse.

"I believe we are approaching the area Leliana mentioned," Solas told them, nodding his head towards a cluster of wooden buildings alive with activity that had slowly become visible as the road curved around the hill. Soldiers milled between the turf-roofed structures in heavy plate armour, leather and furs. They were shifting supplies, watching the roads and the red-and-white robed Chantry workers that in turn watched over the injured, casualties of the fighting, either healing or granting peace of mind.

The area had seen battle recently. Spikes of ice rose up from the middle of the road, clearly raised by elemental magic, and even from this distance Kalani could see crimson splashes against the hard-packed dirt and cracked cobble stones that still looked damp. Where the bodies were, she couldn't say.

Her sharp eyes scanned the scene before her, noting several soldiers start forwards, hands reaching for weapons, as they spied the four mounted and obviously armed strangers approaching. Cassandra kicked her heels into her horse's flanks, urging it into a trot as she rode ahead of them to meet the soldiers. She dismounted before she reached them, walking the rest of the way, leading her horse by the reins.

Kalani saw the soldiers straighten their postures and touch mailed fists to steel breastplates as Cassandra identified herself.

"She's handy to have around," she commented.

"Very," Solas agreed with a smile.

They halted just behind Cassandra, and she turned away from the soldiers to face her comrades.

"These men will take our horses, Mother Giselle is just beyond the last house tending to the wounded," she told them, pointing the way. Solas and Kalani dismounted and gave over control of their steeds to two of the soldiers who began to lead them away.

"Woah, woah, _woah_! Seeker, help!" Varric struggled to rein in his horse behind them, who had started walking backwards now. Cassandra reached for the reins with one hand, laying a palm against the horse's grey-dappled flank and halting it.

"Shall I help you get down?" She teased him with a grin. Varric glared down at her from the saddle. A smaller horse had been selected for him, and yet still he felt as though he sat astride a mountain. He grasped the saddle pommel with both hands, then carefully swung himself down, jumping back away from the horse as soon as his feet hit the ground and muttering to himself as he stalked towards the buildings Cassandra had indicated.

Kalani hid a smile as she followed him, hearing Solas and Cassandra close on her heels.

The soldiers they passed eyed them warily, paying particular notice to Solas and the wooden staff strapped to his back. As for the chantry workers tending the wounded, they ignored the newcomers.

They passed a shallow pond, green lily pads bobbing gently on its rippling surface. The main thoroughfare cut through the middle of the cluster of buildings and was made from worn pale stones. The buildings themselves seemed to have been erected haphazardly, standing at intervals from the road. Square, or rectangular, or circular wooden buildings with thick grassy roofs, standing at the roadside or crowding the hillsides. Crumbling stone walls followed the road, holding back tall grass that hissed as the wind blew, bringing with it the scent of wood smoke and incense from the settlement, and stirring the red and gold banners that hung from poles along the roadside.

Wooden carts laden with goods had been left by the walls, or pushed off the main road onto the dirt tracks that linked the rest of the buildings. As they walked, Kalani saw faces peering through windows, doors cracking open to watch them pass. The refugees and inhabitants of the settlement, she presumed, wondering who the newcomers were.

"Up there," Cassandra said, drawing the elf's attention back to her. She was pointing up towards a large rectangular wooden structure built on a high grey stone platform. Rickety wooden stairs lead up out of the grass surrounding it onto the platform.

The wood slats were old and discoloured, and creaked loudly under her weight as Kalani climbed. Nearing the top, she saw several tables had been set up around the edge of the stone platform, on which lay injured soldiers. Chantry workers toiled over them, working to soothe their pain and heal their injuries. Blood stained the wood and stones, tainted the air with a thick coppery tang.

Kalani's eyes homed in on a dark-skinned woman whose red-and-white robes were different to her fellow chantry colleagues, more ornate. She was knelt beside a simple camp-bed, on which lay a nervous soldier raised up on his elbows. His eyes were tight with pain, but he was adamantly shaking his head.

"There are mages here who can heal your wounds," she was saying gently, as one such mage discretely approached her from behind. The soldier recoiled, eyes darting from the mage and back to the woman. "Lie still."

"Don't…let them touch me!" He protested weakly. "Their magic is-"

"Turned to noble purpose," she interrupted him. "The magic is surely no more evil than your blade?" The soldier stared at her in surprise, having never considered it in such a way before.

"That must be her," Kalani said, watching the woman kneeling beside the injured soldier, smiling at him as he finally lay back on the bed and allowed the mage to tend to him.

"Must be?" Cassandra repeated, glancing sideways at her companion.

"Well, no one else is wearing a stupid hat," the elf replied simply, striding forwards.

"She's got a point…" Varric said with a shrug, looking up at Cassandra, who pulled a bitter face at him and hurried after Kalani, hoping she spoke with a little more respect to the cleric.

They stood several paces behind Kalani as she addressed the chantry woman.

"Mother Giselle?"

The woman looked towards the voice, and rose from her position beside the soldier.

"I am," she said, walking towards Kalani. "And you must be the one they are calling the Herald of Andraste."

Kalani barely concealed the grimace at being addressed as the Herald, still struggling with the implications of allegedly being the messenger of a holy being.

"Why did you call me here?" She asked, and heard a sharp intake of breath from behind herself, Cassandra shocked at the bluntness of the question.

But Mother Giselle simply smiled and gestured with one hand for Kalani to walk with her. Cassandra made to follow them, but was halted by Varric stepping in front of her and shaking his head.

"We should follow," she said earnestly, looking after the retreating forms of Kalani and Mother Giselle as they made their way across the stone platform, past more beds and tables, to an empty area by the stairs. "Kalani-"

"Is more than capable of talking to a Chantry cleric," the dwarf finished for her.

"Varric is right," Solas said, looking faintly amused that he had uttered such a sentence. "Kalani can talk to Mother Giselle without you watching over her. And if she can't, then she needs to learn."

"But-"

"But Mother Giselle doesn't look like the sort of woman to be insulted by an elf that doesn't seem to know how to bow and scrape," Varric interrupted Cassandra again.

She pursed her lips and sent him a disapproving glare, looking away towards Kalani and Mother Giselle and missing the smirk he shot back at her.

"Well, whatever they were talking about, they're finished now," she said, watching as Mother Giselle began walking down the old wooden stairs, leaving Kalani looking after her. She noted a bemused expression on the elf's fair features, and then Kalani turned to meet Cassandra's gaze, striding back over to her comrades.

"Well?" Solas asked, lacing his fingers in front of himself and tipping his head curiously at her.

"She suggested we speak to the remaining clerics in Val Royeaux…" Kalani said, and explained to them what Mother Giselle had told her. Travel to Val Royeaux and cause enough doubt amongst the outspoken chantry members, and the power of their unified voice was broken. Perhaps they could even gain support for the Inquisition.

Kalani had never been to Val Royeaux, but she had others who had been there relating their travels. Tales of grandeur and displays of wealth, and social etiquette that sounded more stressful than fighting off a great bear with nothing but a wooden training sword to hand. She would need extreme coaching from Josephine or she risked ending the Inquisition by addressing someone with the wrong title or something equally idiotic. While the appearance of the place sounded stunning, the culture sounded ridiculous. In Val Royeaux the people fought with words and sneaky gestures rather than blades and honesty and that was something she would never understand.

"I'll send word to Haven," Cassandra said. "Preparations can start immediately. Josephine can call the clerics together and we shall meet with them." She was already walking away, eager to get back to the Inquisition camp where she could send word back to Haven ahead of their arrival.

"Oh, joy…" Kalani muttered.


	4. Motives and Mead

Kalani stared across the rough wooden table top at the elf that sat opposite her in silence. The elf stared back, wide grey eyes studying her quietly, though starting to narrow with annoyance. Around them the inhabitants of Haven filled the tavern with raucous laughter and lively chatter. The warm air was scented with honey and spice, and yeast from the mead and ale that filled every tankard, wood smoke from the fire burning in the stone hearth that left the tavern hazy, and the damp furs and leathers of the patrons.

A horn cup rested on the table at Kalani's elbow, filled with golden mead that she had barely touched. She had seen Sera, the strange elf that had insisted on accompanying them back to Haven from Val Royeaux, to join the Inquisition's efforts (or, at least, Kalani _thought_ that's what Sera had been getting at, but it was entirely possible she had missed the mark on that one), loitering in the tavern and had opted to join her at her table. That had been several minutes ago, and they had spent that time watching each other warily.

While they may have been of the same race, the two elves were wildly different. Kalani was Dalish. Sera was a city elf. They were as similar as Fereldens and Orlesians. As qunari and humans. They were worlds apart. And that intrigued Kalani.

"I thought you wanted to talk?" Sera asked finally, frowning at Kalani. "I mean, I'm more than happy to sit here and say nothing, and pretend you don't exist, but you're freaking me out…"

Kalani lifted her cup and sipped at her mead, enjoying the way it warmed her to the core and left an aftertaste of honey on her tongue.

"I'm just trying to figure you out," she admitted.

"Traditionally people use _words_ ," Sera replied, disgruntled.

"I've never met a city elf."

"Yeah, well," Sera leaned back in her chair, eyes flicking up and down over what she could see of Kalani. The fair skin, the bright emerald eyes, the fiery hair with the warrior braids and the stupid tattoo on her face. "I've met plenty of _your_ type. Too elfy. Think you're better than the others."

Kalani arched one eyebrow. Sera copied the motion with an air of mockery.

"I don't think I'm better."

"Oh yeah?" The blonde elf challenged, folding her arms over her chest and tipping her head to almost regard Kalani from the corner of her eyes.

"Yeah," Kalani scowled at her, annoyed by the blonde's judgmental words.

"Well, I've seen otherwise. Elfy elves looking down on other elves just because _they_ were born in fancy aravels instead of stone buildings," Sera snorted and stubbornly stared away across the tavern, watching a group of off duty soldiers crowded around a table, roaring in laughter as they encouraged one of their own to down the contents of his large pewter tankard. Beer slopped down the front of his jerkin and Sera sniggered.

"You don't get born in an aravel…"

"Whatever," Sera muttered dismissively.

"Okay, so, clearly we got off on the wrong foot," Kalani said, leaning back in her chair and resting her fingertips on the edge of the table, worn smooth by years of use. Sera glanced back at her, expression guarded.

Kalani knew Sera had been disgruntled to find out an elf was the so-called Herald of Andraste, which was weird considering she, herself, was an elf. She didn't understand it, but clearly there was a deep-seated issue there that they wouldn't be getting to any time soon. "Can we start again? I'm Kalani. Pleased to meet you."

"Sera," she said, eyes suddenly mischievous as she played along. "Thought you'd be bigger," she said and cackled suddenly. "That would've been hilarious if you were a man." The laughing died out and she sighed, shaking her head, "wasted…"

Kalani offered a small smile and lifted her cup in one hand. "Oh, I don't know. It's still kind of funny," she said, sipping her mead. She rolled the drink around in her mouth, savouring it while Sera studied her curiously.

"Must be fun," the blonde said at length. "Being all important without actually _doing_ anything. That could come in handy, you know? For the little people." Sera tapped her fingers thoughtfully against the table top, watching Kalani curiously.

Kalani swallowed and put her cup down again. "The little people?" She repeated, and Sera nodded vigorously. So, she was already figuring out the ways in which the Inquisition could benefit her organisation. "So, you signed up to get resources for Red Jenny?"

"No!" Sera wrinkled her nose in disgust at the accusation. "Yes. No. …Maybe. Look," she leaned her elbows on the table, and jabbed her thumb at her chest. "Listen. I want to do good, and _you_ ," she pointed one finger at Kalani, "can help me do that. Fix the hole in the sky? Help some people…" Her grey eyes darted away, fixing on a point across the room. "And I want to know if it's all really real. Andraste and that. So, I'm selfish. It's all for me," her eyes met Kalani's once more, unwavering, self-deprecating. She shrugged and pushed out her lower lip, reaching over the table for Kalani's cup. "Count yourself lucky, I guess."

"Well, you seem like a good person to me," Kalani replied, watching as Sera swigged from her cup before handing it back. "Thanks…" She muttered, and looked back up at Sera. "At the very least, you're honest. And that's good."

Sera sniggered, and leaned across the table to give Kalani's shoulder a playful punch. "You think I'm honest? Awww!"

"Well, mostly," Kalani grinned. She knocked back the last of her mead and slammed the cup down on the table with a bang. "Another?"

"You're the only one drinking," Sera pointed out. Kalani raised an eyebrow and a slow grin spread across Sera's face. "Another!"

* * *

Darkness had fallen by the time Kalani left the tavern. Lamplight glowed softly in windows like embers, creeping around the edge of doors. Smoke coiled upwards towards the sky from chimneys, reaching for the hundreds of pinprick stars visible in the cloudless sky. She could see the watchmen in their towers, stood with their backs to their fires that edged everything in gold, staring over the land beyond the wooden palisade.

She shivered and folded her arms over her chest and stuffed her hands into her armpits as she walked, breath rising in plumes of white before herself. She wore only a thin leather coat over her woollen jerkin, having not expected to be so long in the tavern, and after the heady warmth of that room she felt the chill of the wind much more acutely. Already her ears burned with the cold.

"Well, if it isn't the Herald herself!"

Kalani looked up at the gruff voice to see Varric grinning at her across the flickering light of his campfire.

"You're out late," he commented as she changed direction and approached his fire, slipping in a patch of ice and only just righting herself in time. She dropped down onto the log beside the dwarf and eagerly held out her hands towards the fire to warm her already-aching digits.

"Aha. I was at the tavern, speaking with Sera," she told him without looking up. Varric gave a soft laugh, poking a log further into the flames with a long stick.

"Oh, that must have been an experience," he said, glancing at Kalani. She flexed her fingers, then let her arms drop into her lap.

"It was nice, actually," she said, watching the flickering light cast long shadows across the trampled snow beyond Varric's makeshift camp. "We have a lot in common."

"Oh, really?" Varric raised his eyebrows, grinning widely. He hadn't really taken the opportunity to have a proper conversation with Sera since their return from Val Royeaux, that was true, but even so he could tell they were nothing alike. Sera was wild and chaotic and seemed to speak in riddles, while Kalani was slightly more sensible and spoke plainly. There was no knowing what Sera might do in any given situation, and that put him on edge. Kalani, however…He was pretty sure he knew her mind well enough.

"Yes, really," she nodded once and tore her gaze away from the flames to look at him.

"Like?" He pressed, amused.

Kalani opened her mouth to respond, and faltered, "…Well…Um. We both…" She gestured with one hand in front of herself, eyes darting around their surroundings as she searched for an answer. "Have pointy ears," she said, turning back to him triumphantly.

"Aha," Varric nodded, leaning back slightly on the log and stabbing his stick into the hard, frozen earth between his boots as he watched her.

"We both want to help people and make the sky not have a hole in it," she continued, pointing up at the scar in the sky.

"Both have a healthy appetite for mead," Varric added, taking in her flushed cheeks and the brightness in her eyes.

"Yep. I mean noooo," Kalani frowned and adamantly shook her head. "I mean…I'm sure I don't know _what_ you mean," she attempted to give him a wide-eyed look of innocence.

"Of course not," Varric said seriously and Kalani grinned at him mischievously. "You've earned it," he said, reaching over to clap a hand over her narrow shoulder. "You don't _have_ to stick with the Inquisition, but you have. So, thank you, Kalani Lavellan, for hanging around to save the world." He squeezed her shoulder, then let his hand drop.

Kalani turned over her left hand, palm up, to show him the faintly glowing slash that marked her fair skin. It tingled still, despite the dormant Breach, still connected. Somehow. No one knew what it was or how it worked, but it reacted to the tears in the Fade, flaring up when she drew near.

"I'm the only one with the means to close the rifts and the Breach," she said, watching the magical wound. It didn't seem to be killing her any more, but she still wanted rid of it. It was unnatural, and, like the Breach, caused the hairs at the back of her neck to rise whenever she looked at it. Without knowing anything about it she knew, deep in her gut, on some primal level, that it was just plain _wrong_ and it was attached to _her_ , it was _part_ of her and she hated it with every fibre of her being. She closed her fingers tight against it, hiding it from view, and looked up at Varric.

"Maybe I don't have to be here. But I can't exactly turn my back and walk away. Not when I can do something to help."

Varric smiled and jabbed his stick into the fire again, pushing burning logs around. One of them shifted with a pop and sent a little puff of embers spiralling into the dark sky.

"Well, I've got your back, Herald," he told her, and Kalani wrinkled her nose and shoved his shoulder with her knuckles.

"Don't call me that!"

* * *

 **A/N: I've done barely any writing for ages now. Work and life just won't give me the time to sit down and think long enough XD So, obviously, I picked a conversation with Sera to write. I love her to bits but find it so hard to get into her head, silly erratic rogue :P There's more on the way at some point!**


	5. Spontaneous Breaks

**A/N: So, I haven't properly written anything in months. I thought a short conversation between Kalani and Josephine would be a nice way to ease myself back in. However, they had other ideas and the 'getting to know each other' update this was meant to be just kept flowing XD But anyway, here it is in all its spontaneous glory.**

* * *

It wasn't quite early enough to still be deemed morning, and yet not quite late enough to be called afternoon, when Josephine decided enough was enough. She loved the work she did as ambassador and advisor to the newly created Inquisition, loved the idea that her knowledge and tact with the nobles of Thedas, Orlais, and beyond, may pave the way for a world of order to be born from the ashes of chaos. But sometimes the constant communications and whining and requests, the 'so-and-so allied with you has made threats to me, what are you going to do about it?', the 'your soldiers' forward camp is slightly over the border of my land, I demand recompense', or 'I expect gold in return for harbouring refugees' became a bit much. This was one of those times.

Josephine lay down the parchment she had been reading over on her ink blotter and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and rubbing one hand over her face. The room felt close and stuffy, and she could feel the pressure of a headache building in her forehead. She opened her eyes and stared up at the shadowy ceiling for a moment, gathering herself, before scraping back her heavy chair and getting to her feet. The letters could wait, she needed a break, a breath of fresh air.

She left her study, rolling her neck to ease the cramp of hours spent hunched over her desk, and made her way through the dimly lit Chantry. Clusters of candles flickered as she passed, casting dancing shadows against the walls. Torches mounted in sconces on pillars guttered in the chilly breeze that crept through the cracks around the wooden doors up ahead and pale sunlight slanted in through windows high above, soft beams criss-crossing downwards to pool against the plush red carpet that spread the length of the Chantry. The air was thick with incense, tendrils of scented smoke curling upwards from bronze burners scattered throughout the long hall.

There were a few Chantry workers speaking in reverent whispers amongst themselves, the only sound in the building. She smiled and nodded in acknowledgement as she passed and they returned the gesture.

The Chantry doors were old and heavy but well-oiled and opened easily with a shove from Josephine, revealing bright sunlight that made her squint after spending the morning frowning at letters by candle-light. She stepped outside, letting the doors close behind her, and immediately shuddered in the chill Haven air. She had somehow forgotten, in the heat of her study, how cold it would be outside, and was just considering going back inside for a wrap of some kind, when she spied the small frame of Kalani striding with purpose across the icy ground towards the steps that led down further into Haven. Judging by the strung bow and quiver of arrows slung across her back she was heading outside of the village, perhaps to practice with Cassandra and her soldiers on their makeshift training grounds, or to hunt in the woods surrounding the frozen lake. Either way, they could walk a little together.

"Kalani," Josephine called out brightly, and was rewarded by the elf halting her brisk march and turning to look over her shoulder. Her face broke out into a wide smile as she caught sight of Josephine making her way over, breath escaping her lips in puffs of white. "Maker, it's cold out here!" she cried, rubbing her hands against her upper arms in an attempt to warm up.

Kalani inclined her head as Josephine reached her.

"That it is, ambassador," she said as they began walking again, at a much more leisurely pace than she had been moving at originally.

Josephine scoffed at the formality. "Josephine, please," she insisted.

"All right, then, Josephine," Kalani replied, and paused, looking up at her. "You have ink on your face."

"What?!" Josephine cried, horrified, her hands going to her cheeks as she stared at Kalani, who grinned and pointed to a small black smudge against one cheekbone. Josephine pulled her hands away to check her fingers for more ink. Sure enough there were black splodges against her writing fingers. She heaved a sigh and licked the pad of one thumb, rubbing it against her cheek to get rid of the mark. "I must be more careful when writing. I get so carried away and I don't pay attention and… well…" she gestured to her face, giving an embarrassed smile. "Gone?"

"Gone," Kalani said, still with an expression of amusement lighting her eyes. Josephine couldn't help but to smile back at the elf. It didn't feel like Kalani was laughing _at_ her, but rather, like they were sharing a joke.

"Now that I've finished humiliating myself," Josephine said, looking down at the ground as they made their way down stone steps slick with ice, careful not to lose her footing. "Where are you headed?"

"I was going outside Haven for a bit, just to explore," Kalani adjusted the thin leather strap across her chest that held her quiver and bow, tightening the buckle, "but now I'm thinking we should head to the tavern for some mead before you freeze to death." She glanced up at Josephine and raised one eyebrow.

"Oh? Oh, no! I couldn't drink, not when I have so many negotiations to finish-"

"All negotiations can be improved with mead."

Josephine laughed at the joke, and the overly serious expression Kalani fixed her with.

"Good morning, Josie," Leliana called, approaching them from somewhere within the simple wooden buildings of Haven. As usual, her hood was up, shadowing her face. Josephine greeted her with a smile.

Kalani stiffened as Leliana's hard grey eyes met her own.

"Lavellan," the spymaster said.

Kalani cleared her throat and gave a sharp nod of her head, "Leliana."

Leliana regarded the elf a moment, tapping a small roll of parchment against one gloved palm, then her eyes flicked to Josephine.

"I will need to speak with you later," was all she said, before moving on in the direction of the Chantry.

Kalani watched her go, letting out a soft breath. Her attention snapped to Josephine as the ambassador chuckled quietly.

"She is harmless," Josephine assured her. Kalani's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the remark, and Josephine gave a coy smile. "If she likes you," she added. "Try to stay on her good side."

"I'm not sure which side that is," Kalani muttered, leading them towards the tavern.

"I think you're on it," Josephine told her honestly. "She hasn't sent her spies out to gather intelligence on you, anyway."

"Well, that's a relief." Kalani gave her a cheeky grin that earned itself another laugh from Josephine. Her eyes lingered as her laughter faded to a soft smile, studying the elf. Kalani cocked her head curiously. "What?"

Josephine paused, unsure if she should speak her mind. She did so anyway, saying, "you're so different from Solas, and so vastly different from Sera." The magical power that cloaked the quiet apostate Solas, felt even by her magically inept self, unnerved her and there was something about him, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on, some uncertainty that kept her on edge around him. Whether it was his vast knowledge of the arcane or his mastery of magic, she couldn't say. And Sera? She was wild and out of control. Josephine could make little sense of her and left conversations with Sera feeling nervous and confused. Kalani, however, made her feel at ease. She was sometimes serious, sometimes joker, a definite mischief maker, but Josephine found herself strangely drawn to the elf. She was the Herald of Andraste, the mystical enigma that had put aside her grievances with Cassandra and her soldiers in an attempt to seal the Breach, even when her survival wasn't guaranteed.

"Ah," Kalani understood Josephine's remark. Most humans thought of the elves as having two very distinct personalities. There were the Dalish and there were the city elves and that was it. And, to be fair, the Dalish didn't exactly help by being so elusive and quick to escape human notice. She hadn't expected Josephine to subscribe to that school of thought though.

Kalani's tone made Josephine frown. Had she said something wrong? No, she couldn't have, the elf was smiling. "You're different to the other humans," Kalani added playfully.

Josephine immediately blushed, realising suddenly what she had said. Being from the same race as someone else didn't make them the same kind of person. She stopped walking to face the elf, warm brown eyes going wide with horror as her brow creased in concern. "Oh, Kalani, that was rude of me…"

"Not at all," Kalani replied easily, looking amused with Josephine's reaction.

"No, Kalani, I'm an ambassador, I'm supposed to…know these things. What to say, what not to say," Josephine gestured agitatedly, clearly frustrated with herself.

"Well, I'm not insulted," Kalani told her, turning away to continue their walk towards the tavern.

"Then I am lucky," Josephine muttered. Had she spoken to another elf she suspected the newly born Inquisition might have had a diplomatic incident on their hands. Kalani, Solas, and Sera were the only elves she had ever spent any period of time with and it was confusing, bewildering even, as she attempted to tally the living elves with their counterparts on the pages of the books she had read.

Kalani chuckled and shook her head, saying no more on the matter.

"So…You and Leliana seem close," she spoke up casually after a moment, changing the subject.

"We are," Josephine agreed, nodding her head.

"Very close?" Kalani glanced up at her, reading her soft features.

"She is like a sister to me," Josephine answered honestly, meeting her gaze. "Why?"

"Just curious," Kalani said, finding herself strangely relieved by that answer. "And trying to find out more about you."

"Oh," Josephine sounded pleased about this, looking down at her feet to hide a smile.

Kalani reached out to push open the tavern door but Josephine stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, pulling back lightly. Kalani halted and looked up at her in confusion.

"It'll be noisy in there and I'd like to talk properly some more," she explained off Kalani's expression, pulling her hand back and crossing her arms to jam her hands into her armpits for warmth. "Let me get a coat and we can take that walk outside the village."

Kalani grinned and nodded at her enthusiastically. "Sure! I'll wait outside the gates for you."

"I won't be long," Josephine promised, turning and hurrying away, back the way they had walked, back towards the Chantry.

Kalani watched her go, smiling fondly to herself. She was so used to the elegant and perfectly poised Josephine that to see her away from her study, with ink smudged on her face and flustered over insensitive words, was refreshing to say the least. A totally different side than the one she had seen before her trip to Val Royeux, when she had spent several hours with Josephine being briefed on all she needed to know in order to survive in Orlais. The ambassador had been all business, relaying an overwhelming amount of information that had dazed the elf who just could not wrap her head around the intricacies of a culture so obsessed with social standing.

No, this was different. A nice change of pace from the constant stress of trying to prevent the spread of war in Ferelden and mystical tears in the Fade.

Kalani strode away from the tavern, following the well-trodden path through the village to the rough wooden gates that barred the only way in and out. They stood propped open currently, guards prowling the walkway above, staring out over the frozen lake and the rolling hills beyond that stretched away to the mountains in the distance. A landscape of stark white, the only colour offered by the evergreens standing in clusters that gradually thickened and turned into forest.

A row of market stalls lined one side of the village walls, low wooden tables spread with goods from the surrounding settlements. Arms and armour, leatherwork, pottery, intricate jewellery. The traders called out to the citizens of Haven going about their day, hawking their wares, a commotion that faded to background noise as she made her way outside the village.

The ground was frozen solid beneath her feet, uneven from cart wheels that carved grooves into the earth in warmer seasons. Ice crystals glittered in the sunlight, frosting the hardened dirt tracks. Snow was piled high either side of the pathways, marbled with dirt where it had been scraped clear of the tracks.

Kalani turned her gaze to the sky, dark and clouded in the distance where the dormant Breach hung low over the mountains. Dormant, but still glowing venomous green, dark clouds swirling low and heavy around it. Occasionally green light flared bright within the roiling clouds, like a magical storm. Over Haven, the sun burned through the cloud cover, determined shine over the inhabitants that had fought hard to rid the heavens of its unnatural wound.

"Much better," came Josephine's voice from behind her and Kalani turned to face her. Josephine had pulled on a long fur-lined coat over her usual silk and cotton clothes, and soft leather gloves to protect against the bitter air.

"You look warmer," Kalani commented playfully.

"Yes," Josephine replied almost bashfully, looking down at her hands as she adjusted one glove. "I hadn't intended to be out long, otherwise I probably would have wrapped up before…"

Kalani paused awkwardly. "Am I keeping you?"

Josephine looked up at the elf. "Not at all!" She said quickly on seeing the uncertainty in Kalani's eyes. "That's not what I meant." She sighed, "I'm saying all the wrong things this morning." She pressed the tips of her fingers to her forehead, massaging over her brow in dismay.

"Well, you can't be perfect _all_ the time," Kalani teased. "You'll show the rest of us up!"

Josephine spluttered, flustered once again. "Perfect?" She asked, and rolled her eyes as Kalani gave her a broad grin. She reached out to cuff the elf lightly against one shoulder. "Stop, you."

"Really, though," Kalani said, leading the way along the road away from Haven, towards gently sloping hills that bristled with tall pine trees, "you work harder than Cassandra and Cullen. Than Leliana, even. You deserve a break."

Josephine scoffed. "I answer and write letters in a safe, warm study all day. They organize the troops and fight battles I will never see."

"Yours is a battle of wits," Kalani said, moving off the path and walking through ankle deep snow that crunched and creaked beneath her boots. "It's different."

Josephine hesitated before following her. "Where are we going?"

Kalani looked sideways at her, grinned and shrugged. "I don't know, but there's more snow over here," she said, hurrying forwards.

Josephine frowned and cocked her head to the side, watching curiously as Kalani crouched down suddenly. "More snow?" She asked. "Why is that-" She spluttered as she received a soft-packed snowball to the face. "Kalani!" She gasped, shocked by the sudden chill of ice against her flushed skin.

Kalani threw back her head and cackled at the expression on the ambassador's face, and promptly found herself choking as a well-placed missile exploded against her chest. She spat snow onto the ground and grinned at Josephine.

"No, Kalani, no," Josephine said in warning, starting to back away as the elf slowly leaned down without taking her eyes off Josephine's, digging her fingers into the snow and moulding it into a sphere. "Kalani, no!" Josephine yelped, turning and running, giggling as the snowball struck a tree trunk nearby and showered her in snow. She ducked down behind the tree and quickly made her own ball, peeking out of her hiding place to see Kalani was kneeling down, focussed on packing snow. She hastily made another and leaped out of cover, chucking both snowballs at Kalani, who ducked her head and laughed as she dropped the one she had made in surprise.

"Hey! That's cheating!" She protested.

"There are no rules in a snowball fight," Josephine told her.

"No?" Kalani asked, emerald eyes flashing mischievously. Too late Josephine realized her mistake as the elf leaped to her feet and sprinted forwards, closing the distance between them impossibly fast.

Josephine could only squeak as Kalani's small frame cannoned into her and knocked them both back into a snow drift. She felt her stomach lurch as her feet left the ground, Kalani's strong arms wrapped around her waist, laughing in her ear as they crashed down into the mound of soft snow.

After the initial shock had worn off, and her brain had done a mental once-over, making sure she was unharmed, Josephine realized Kalani was on top of her, pinning her into the snow. She could feel the cold creeping inside her clothes, along with the not-unpleasant warmth and weight of the elf, who suddenly shoved herself up enough to look into Josephine's face to gage her reaction. Her hands were in the snow either side of Josephine's head, and Josephine could feel Kalani's warm breath and long hair tickling her cheeks.

"What was that for?" Josephine asked eventually with a smile.

"I don't know," Kalani admitted. "I was being spontaneous?"

"Being spontaneous is cold," Josephine said.

"I know," Kalani raised herself onto her knees and pulled her hands out of the snow, looking down at them as she flexed her fingers. "I can't feel my fingers." Her eyes met Josephine's, bright and playful.

"No wonder, you're wearing fingerless gloves!" Josephine cried in surprise. She shook the snow from her gloved hands and reached for Kalani's, holding them between her own to warm them.

Kalani dropped her gaze to their conjoined hands, enjoying the moment, the heat of Josephine, the silence of the forest. But then she felt Josephine shiver, and raised her eyes again to meet soft brown with a crooked smile.

"We should go…"

Josephine nodded, feeling her teeth start to chatter, and released Kalani's hands so the elf could get to her feet. Her coat felt cold and damp against her shoulders, the snow beneath her head beginning to melt and soak into her hair, trickling beneath her collar in an icy rivulet.

Kalani reached down and helped her to her feet with surprising strength for someone so small, grinning at Josephine as she said, "come on, we can't have the ambassador getting a chill!"

"You shouldn't throw her in the snow, then," Josephine retorted, bending over and brushing snow off her trousers to hide a smile.

"An excellent point," Kalani said. "It won't happen again."

"No?" Josephine asked. "A shame," she headed off in the direction of Haven.

* * *

Kalani's pace slowed as they entered Haven, the damp and bedraggled appearances of the Herald and the ambassador earning more than a few curious glances from the inhabitants of the village. They both halted at the base of the stone steps just inside the gates, villagers bustling around them as the traders called out their wares from their stalls, loud voices competing with each other for custom.

"Well, we ought to get changed into dry clothes," Kalani said regretfully, looking up at Josephine.

"Yes," Josephine agreed, and paused, finding herself oddly reluctant to part company with the elf just yet. "Come to my study once you've changed. I'll send for some warm mead and we can warm up properly. That is, unless you have plans…?" Her gaze was hopeful.

Kalani smiled and nodded. "I'd like that," she said. "I won't be long."

She jogged through the streets of Haven, heading for the small wooden building she currently shared with one of the villagers. It was cramped and the icy wind seemed to always be whistling through cracks in the walls and door, but it was the only place in the village with a bed to spare and for that she was grateful. She had a bed and a roof over her head and good food, she couldn't ask for more than that. A key had been made for her, allowing her to come and go as she pleased, and she used it now to unlock the door.

She pulled off her quiver as she crossed the main living area, and passed around the dividing wall to her 'room', leaving the quiver propped against the wall. She unstrung her bow and leaned the staff beside the quiver, coiling the string and dropping it onto the small table beside the sagging bed. She stripped off her damp clothes and chucked them onto the floor. She would hang them over a chair to dry when she left.

Kalani's pack had disappeared in the explosion that had levelled the Temple of Sacred Ashes, leaving her with nothing but the clothes she stood up in. The villagers had been more than happy to scrounge up some new clothes in her size, and she dug them out now, pulling on soft woollen trousers and a thick woollen shirt that she belted at the waist. She grabbed a leather jacket and a scarf and left, back out into the cold, heading, this time, for the Chantry.

The door to Josephine's study opened before she got to it, rattling in its iron hinges as Leliana stepped out. Her grey eyes found Kalani immediately, as though she had already known she would be there.

"Morning," Kalani greeted her warily, hurried step slowing to a halt.

"It is afternoon now," Leliana informed her, matter of fact, allowing the door to close behind herself. Her eyes bored into Kalani's, making the elf squirm uncomfortably. Leliana had a pleasant enough face, fair and seemingly open, but her eyes were always guarded, calculating, and, like Solas, Kalani often felt as though the spymaster could see straight through her, see her deepest secrets. Know her mind. If Josephine liked her, she knew Leliana couldn't be such a terrible person. But the Left Hand of the Divine seemed to be all knowing, all seeing, and the things Kalani had heard… rumours, but still. It would perhaps be best to remain on guard at all times around the spymaster.

"Oh?" Kalani asked, then, needing something else to say to fill the growing silence, "how time flies!"

Leliana's expression didn't change. "Indeed," she said, dipping her head slightly in a farewell gesture as she moved passed Kalani, making her way towards the great double doors at the other end of the Chantry.

Kalani let herself into Josephine's study in a state of confusion. Josephine looked up from where she stood behind her desk, parchment in hand. A multitude of candles stood on all available surfaces, banishing the shadows of the windowless room to the very corners. Those closest to Kalani sputtered as she entered and closed the door behind herself, causing the light in the room to flicker.

"Did I somehow annoy Leliana?" Kalani asked, gesturing vaguely over her shoulder with one thumb.

Josephine laughed and rolled up the parchment, laying it down on her cluttered desk, circling round to stand opposite Kalani and shaking her head. "Not at all. I believe she senses the way she unnerves you and has decided to play with it."

"Charming," Kalani muttered, folding her arms over her chest and glancing away. Her eyes fell upon two pewter tankards on Josephine's desk. "Are those for us?"

"Yes," Josephine answered, picking both up and offering one to Kalani. "Warm mead, as promised."

"Thanks," Kalani said, taking the tankard in both hands and inhaling the comforting scent of honey and warm spices from the drink.

"Please, sit," Josephine said, gesturing to the large wooden chair behind her desk, the padding of the back rest worn and cracked, the seat piled with cushions. The only other chair in the room was pushed up against a wall, half buried under a pile of leather-bound books, a plain wooden thing that looked to be falling apart.

"That's your chair," Kalani pointed out, looking back to the ambassador.

"I can't expect my guest to take this old thing," Josephine replied, moving the books off the chair and onto the floor.

"I'm much more used to hard floors and rough logs than soft chairs," Kalani said, but didn't wish to insult Josephine's hospitality. She walked around the desk and dropped happily into the throne-like seat.

Josephine smiled, dragging her chair forwards and sitting opposite Kalani at the desk. "Yes, I can't imagine the Dalish would lug heavy luxury furniture around the Free Marches with them," she joked.

Kalani grinned, sitting pixie-style in the chair with her tankard cradled between both hands in her lap. "Bare essentials," she agreed. "We have to be ready to go at a moment's notice."

Josephine considered the elf before her a moment with her wild auburn hair and her bright green eyes, and the deep green swirling tattoos against the fair skin of her face. She spoke casually, with a soft smile on her lips, no hint at all in her expression of the difficulties she must have faced daily. "It sounds…Hard," she commented.

"I suppose it does," Kalani said thoughtfully. "But I've known nothing else."

But there was something else to it too. A life not governed by the strict laws and rules of cities and settlements. A life dictated by the rising and setting of the sun, waking up in one place, going to sleep in another. Gathering and cooking their own food. "It must be magical too," Josephine said eagerly. "Sleeping under the stars, hunting and gathering and cooking your food, surrounded by nature."

Kalani smiled at her fondly, amused by her enthusiasm. "You city dwellers sure do romanticize the roaming lifestyle," she said. "Of course, it's nice, and I've definitely seen my share of wonderful things in the wild. But it can be hard and frightening at times too. You have to respect nature, or you'll fail. I could hunt before I could talk, knew how to set traps and use the sun and stars to guide me. But even with years of training I got lost in the woods when I was young," she paused as Josephine uttered a soft gasp, and grinned at the enraptured human. "Oh, nothing that dramatic happened. I was much younger, not yet an adult. I wasn't even an apprentice hunter then, but we all learn the basic skills young. You have to. I was tracking something small. Hares, I think. I wasn't paying attention and realised I didn't know where I was. Forgot everything I knew and wandered around in a panic until nightfall and I thought that was it," she shrugged her shoulders for emphasis, "I would die alone in the dark and the cold. I sat down by a stream and do you know what happened?" Josephine shook her head adamantly.

Kalani leaned forwards, resting her forearms on the desk, her mead on the blotter before her, enjoying having Josephine's dark eyes locked with hers with an intense anticipation. "A halla appeared," she continued. "She drank from the stream and then looked up at me and began to walk away, so I followed her and she lead me right back to camp! Ghillan'Nain was looking out for me that day."

Josephine continued to watch her, eyes wide. "I would say that's very dramatic," she said.

Kalani leaned back in her chair, sipping at her mead, eyes mischievous over the top of her tankard. "Then I'd better not mention the time I single-handedly took down a bear with nothing but a sharpened stick left to hand."

Josephine's jaw fell open in shock. "You…What!?"

Kalani laughed, "it was a small bear."

"Are you trying to put me off my ideals of a nomadic life?" Josephine asked her suspiciously with a grin.

Kalani matched her grin, pointing one finger at her playfully. "You, my friend, are best suited to stone buildings and comfortable beds."

"I can be adventurous!" Josephine insisted.

"I beg you not to be," Kalani chuckled. "We need you here!"

"I suppose I am better at wielding words and a pen, than swords and bows," Josephine conceded.

Kalani drained her tankard and left it on the edge of the desk. "I'm afraid I should go," she said, pushing back the heavy chair and standing. "I've kept you long enough today."

Josephine was about to protest, but sighed instead. Kalani was right. She had much to do, and the day was fast escaping her. She stood to see the elf out.

"Today was fun," she said sincerely, following her to the door. "Thank you.

Kalani smiled warmly at her. "A welcome break," she said, and left the study.

* * *

 **A/N: I really like mead... Ain't nothing like it on a cold day ^^**


	6. The Fate of Traitors

Darkness had fallen, the sun a mere suggestion of fire behind the far mountains. The breach was an ever-present glow of sickly green in the distance, bathing snowy peaks in its unearthly light. The inhabitants of Haven had withdrawn behind closed doors, into the comfort of their homes, as the temperature began to steadily fall with the dying light.

Kalani shivered as she left the warmth of the chantry and folded her arms over her chest, hands beneath her armpits, in an attempt to hold onto some of the heat, fingers numb as they clutched the parchment scroll Josephine had handed to her. Her breath ghosted before her in white plumes. She hurried across the frozen ground, crunching through snow and brittle ice as she made her way towards the heavy canvas tents pitched in the square opposite the chantry. Lanterns and torches flickered and glowed outside the tents in the gathering darkness, lighting the small flurries of snow that fell, turning them to embers as they swirled downwards. Snowflakes stung the elf's cheeks, settled on her eyelashes. She blinked and ducked her head, forging onwards towards the tent that the Inquisition's spymaster sheltered inside.

Kalani curled her toes inside her boots, flexing them as the chill seeped through the soft leather and caused her digits to ache. She would have to stuff them with fur or straw in future. Crunching ice gave way to frozen mud as she reached the circle of tents. She ducked beneath a pinned-back flap and entered the one Leliana claimed as her own.

Oily smoke coiled up towards the canvas ceiling from several lamps, and wax rolled down the length of the candles in fat drips, spilling across tables and crates. The air was heavy, warm, scented faintly with musky incense, and sweet honey from the beeswax candles. Leliana stood before a cluttered desk with her back to the entrance, but Kalani could see she was polishing the blade of a long knife. It flashed in the sputtering glow of a cluster of candles.

"Lavellan," Leliana greeted her without turning. Kalani halted in the middle of the tent and drew in a sharp breath. How did she- but of course, she was spymaster. Her business was knowledge and it paid to know her allies as well as her enemies. Leliana would recognise her tread. The spymaster lifted her blade, looking along its length, before deciding she was satisfied, setting it down on the desk and turning to face the elf, expression, as always, unreadable.

Kalani averted her gaze from the cold grey eyes that expectantly met her own and lifted the scroll in her hand, "Josephine asked me to give you this."

Leliana took a step forwards and plucked the scroll from Kalani's grasp, breaking the wax seal and unrolling it. She leaned towards the light of a lamp, eyes flicking over the neatly inked script.

Kalani turned to go, believing herself dismissed.

"You have been spending a lot of time with Josephine lately."

Leliana's voice forced her feet into an immediate halt. Kalani half-turned, looking back at her in confusion. Leliana was still reading, but Kalani sensed she had the full attention of the spymaster. "Yes, it's…What friends do," Kalani replied after a moment. Leliana's words sounded like an accusation, disguised as a friendly observation.

"Friends?" Leliana asked, stormy eyes flicking up to meet Kalani's, who turned fully to face her. It sounded like a loaded question and caused the soft hairs at the nape of Kalani's neck to prickle in warning.

"Josephine is a dear friend of mine," Leliana said pointedly, tipping her head slightly to one side as she regarded the elf.

"Yes," Kalani nodded, and found her eyes drawn to a small dark spot high up on Leliana's cheek, visible now that Leliana had shifted her head and candle-light shone beneath her head. A splash of crimson against fair skin. Kalani swallowed, flicked her tongue against dry lips. "There is…Blood on your face."

"Hm. It's not mine." Leliana returned her gaze to the scroll as Kalani stared at her in baffled silence.

A large object slid free of its hiding place, tucked beside a tall cupboard, and crumpled to the hard ground with a dull thud that made Kalani start with surprise. Leliana remained decidedly unruffled. "It's his."

Kalani's eyes grew wide as she realised, with horror, that the object before her was a body, a dead body, the corpse of a human man. His glassy eyes were wide and staring, head tipped back to reveal the deep slash across his throat that still wept scarlet. Kalani took a step back, gaping at the body, every sense screaming at her to run. She turned her wide eyes to Leliana, to find the spymaster frowning at her.

"I- he- you-" Kalani gestured wildly at the body. Thoughts swarmed, trying to throw up several comments at once and becoming, instead, a tangled mess. Leliana had murdered him. This was so different to the fights waged on the battlefield. Surgical, precise, deliberate. Leliana had killed a man in an open tent in the middle of a village overflowing with people and no one had noticed and that unnerved Kalani. She felt her hurt thrumming in her chest, pulse pounding in her neck. She looked down again at the man, back to Leliana as she took a second step back. "Why?" Her tone was almost desperate, pleading.

"He is a traitor," Leliana explained. "Or, was," she smiled coldly, without humour. "If you must know, his name was Butler and he killed one of my agents. Farrier, one of my _best_ agents, though I don't suppose the name means anything to you."

Kalani mutely shook her head. She hadn't heard the name before. Either of them.

"No, well. He knew where my other agents are. I did not wish to risk their safety for the sake of morality. He had to die. And that is not a choice I made lightly," she glanced down at the corpse, and so Kalani did too. She felt her skin crawl. The wound was just so _neat_. "We were friends once."

Her keen ears picked up the sound of Leliana lifting her head, so Kalani quickly lifted her own, meeting that cool, angry gaze. There was a challenge in Leliana's grey eyes. Kalani cleared her throat. "I see," she said quietly. She felt a chill crawl the length of her spine and tensed to contain the resultant shiver.

Leliana began to roll up the scroll again, the body that lay on the ground between them apparently forgotten. "As you're still here, would you mind telling Josephine I will see to it right away?" Her eyes flicked up to meet Kalani's once more.

"No, of course!" Kalani said quickly. "See to what?"

"It is of no concern to you," Leliana replied. The elf bobbed her head again and moved to leave. "And Kalani?" Kalani stilled, watching her nervously. "I am sorry you had to see this," she nodded her head down at the deceased Butler, expression of remorse genuine.

"Uh…No problem," Kalani stammered and hurried back out into the night. While she had been talking to Leliana, the light flurries of snow had turned into heavy flakes that fell thick and fast. Kalani bowed her head and hunched her shoulders, walking as fast as she could. She slipped in a patch of ice, wind-milling her arms to keep from falling. There was an itch between her shoulder blades, as though she expected to feel a blade there. She glanced over her shoulder, back towards the tent. The body was concealed once again, and Leliana stood in the entrance watching her, the glow of so many candles and lanterns spilling warm orange light across the snow. Kalani looked away again and picked up the pace, hurrying to the chantry. She heaved the door open and slipped inside, pulled the door closed behind herself and shuddered, brushing snow and ice from her hair and shoulders. It began melting almost immediately in the heady warmth. The change in temperature made her skin tingle. She took a deep breath and hurried towards the back of the hall, where Josephine was, presumably, still hidden away in the room she had taken for her study. She was almost running by the time she reached the door. She rapped her knuckles against the rough wood and burst inside before receiving an answer.

"Kalani!" Josephine cried, pleasantly surprised. She smiled on recognising the elf, but her expression fell when she noticed the slightly panicked look in Kalani's eyes. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" She stood up from behind her desk, brow creased with worry.

"I took your letter to Leliana," Kalani began to explain, checking that the door had closed behind herself before turning back to Josephine, wide-eyed. "She said she'll see to it right away. See to what?" Another murder? Even if it was justified, was it right to deliver punishment without a trial?

"Supply lines in the Storm Coast," Josephine replied, walking around her desk and hurrying to Kalani. The elf was clearly agitated. She jumped at a sound in the chantry beyond Josephine's door, stepped closer to the ambassador. "Did Leliana say something?" She knew Kalani wasn't entirely comfortable with the spymaster, and that Leliana also knew that and did nothing to aid matters.

Kalani adamantly shook her head. "There was a body," she said quickly.

"A body?!" Josephine stared at her for a moment until it clicked. The traitor. Annoyance clouded her face, then. "Oh, for the love of-I thought she would be more discrete!" She pressed a hand to her forehead in dismay, propped the other on her hip.

Kalani gaped at her, astounded at Josephine's reaction. "Discrete?!" She squeaked.

Josephine sighed and dropped her hands to her sides. "Please do not let this worry you, Kalani. It's not something that happens often. The slight was to Leliana and her scouts and so she wished to deal with it herself. Quietly and _discretely_ , or so she claimed." The latter comment was added as a bitter afterthought.

"I think I walked in shortly after she…did it," Kalani said quietly, looking up at the ambassador, finding Josephine's soft brown eyes locked with her own. It gave her comfort. "The body fell out of hiding while we were talking."

Josephine grimaced. "I'm sorry you had to see that…"

"That's what she said," Kalani replied with a flicker of irritation. All of the apologising was beginning to sound condescending to her. "I'm a warrior, I've seen bodies before. Just…not in that context." Slain in the middle of a village without warning. There was a difference between death on the battlefield and death on the streets, where you least expected it. Perhaps there was a fine line between the two, but not for Kalani.

"I know," Josephine told her soothingly, laying a hand on the elf's shoulder and steering her towards one of the empty chairs pushed up against a wall. She chose the one closest to her desk, nearest to the flickering warmth of the multitude of candles that did their best to light her room. "Stay with me awhile. I have letters I need to finish."

"Still?" Kalani asked in surprise as she obediently sat down when Josephine pushed on her shoulder.

Josephine smiled in response and circled her desk to reclaim her own chair. "Yes, still!" She said. "They won't write themselves."

"But…It's late," Kalani protested. Josephine's eyes rose from her sheet of parchment to meet vibrant green as she scooted her chair closer to the desk and picked up her stylus.

"I believe we had this conversation not even one hour ago," she teased.

Kalani smiled faintly at her tone. "You work too hard."

"Yes, I believe you said that, as well," Josephine told her, going back to her writing with an amused grin. She was flattered by the elf's concern, and pleased, though she wasn't entirely sure why that should be. Perhaps it was the joy of finding a friend in such an unexpected place; a Dalish spy that had previously been a prisoner. She didn't know and honestly didn't care. She liked being around Kalani and that was enough.

She studied Kalani from the corner of one eye. The elf was short and slim, like most of her brethren, with fierce green eyes, long dark auburn hair and a mischievous smile. The fair skin of her face was marked by the winding lines of faint black tattoos, delicate designs that twisted across her forehead and beneath her lower lip. There was a name for it, Josephine knew, though she couldn't remember it. And she knew vaguely that they symbolised a specific god or goddess from the elven pantheon, chosen by the elf themselves, and that it was some kind of important coming of age ritual, but that was all she understood.

Kalani was sitting quietly, head tipped to one side as she eyed the multitude of books stuffed into a bookcase on the wall opposite her, eyes roving from spine to spine. Seeing her so distracted, Josephine turned her head to look properly at the tattoos. As the motion caught Kalani's attention, she flicked her eyes up to meet Josephine's, who found herself unable to look away from the magnetic pull of that emerald gaze. Kalani grinned and Josephine blushed, realising the elf knew she had been staring.

"Ambassador," Kalani dipped her head in playful greeting.

Josephine's cheeks felt hot. "Can I ask you something?" She asked quickly before Kalani could even consider teasing her. She hoped her face wasn't glowing quite as much as she suspected it was.

"Of course," Kalani nodded, eyeing her inquisitively.

Josephine set her stylus down on her ink blotter and folded her arms on top of her desk, glancing over Kalani's markings. "About your tattoos?" She knew the Dalish could be quite secretive about their knowledge, and fiercely guarded their secrets. But Kalani was different, more open than the handful of Dalish she had met, or those she had heard of.

Kalani drew her legs up onto the chair, sitting cross legged. She brushed a finger absently against the black lines on her chin. "What would you like to know?" She asked curiously. No one had ever asked her about them before. No human had ever cared enough. The ambassador looked eager to learn, which was refreshing.

Josephine paused. That was a good question. "Why do you have them?" She decided to start with the basics.

Kalani smiled. A simple enough question, but not quite such a simple answer. "Firstly, it's called vallaslin, or blood writing," she explained. "We get it when we come of age in a ceremony to show we're no longer children. We meditate on our traditions and beliefs to prepare, and then our Keeper applies the vallaslin and you mustn't make a sound," she touched a finger to her lips to signify silence. "It's…very spiritual." She smiled and leaned back in her chair, eyes bright with the attention she was receiving. Josephine appeared enthralled.

"Does it…hurt?" She asked worriedly.

"Of course. You do know how tattoos work?" Kalani lifted one eyebrow. Josephine could be naïve at times, she had to check.

Josephine nodded. "Yes, a foolish question…" She mumbled. "It's beautiful," she added, eyes roving the intricate lines once again.

Kalani beamed at the compliment. "Thank you. I shall let Keeper Istimaethoriel know! Mine is for Ghilan'nain, the mother of the halla, but all of our pantheon has their own design. Well, except Fen'Harel, of course, for obvious reasons, and I probably shouldn't be telling you any of this."

"Will you get in trouble?" Josephine asked.

Kalani winked at her. "Only if you tell on me."

"I won't!" Josephine promised.

"I know," Kalani grinned at her, then heaved a weary sigh. "My people guard our knowledge as though that will somehow preserve our traditions, restore our history. But they don't see it dwindling. Knowledge is meant to be shared."

"Times are changing," Josephine said fairly.

Kalani smiled playfully. "Yes, there's a giant hole in the sky, for starters."

"I mean, perhaps your people might consider being less secretive," Josephine amended, picking up her stylus again, but she didn't resume her writing. "If that's what you want?"

"I don't know," Kalani frowned. It had simply been a bitter remark brought about by the topic of their discussion. She hadn't thought it through properly. "I think it's too late to be having such conversations."

"On the contrary," now it was Josephine's turn to smile playfully at Kalani, "are late nights not the perfect time for hypotheticals?"

Kalani laughed. "Oh, are you a philosopher now?"

"I could be," Josephine grinned. "Perhaps it's time for a career change?"

"Don't you dare…" Kalani warned. "We need you to continue working your magic with words!"

Josephine laughed and finally turned back to her letter, dipping her stylus into the ink pot and continuing to write in flowing script. "I assure you, I am right where I wish to be." She glanced up at Kalani briefly, smiling warmly at the elf.

"Then the Inquisition is safe," Kalani replied, fighting against the mischievous smile tugging at her lips.

Josephine uttered a half laugh, dropping her gaze again as her stylus scratched across the parchment. "It is with you looking after it, Herald of Andraste."

Kalani wrinkled her nose in dismay. "You know I hate people calling me that." She frowned at the armrest of her chair, rubbing her thumb against a nick in the wood that had been worn smooth over countless years. "I hate pretending to believe it. I feel like I'm lying, toying with everyone's faith."

"You're not a charlatan, if that's what bothers you," Josephine said without looking up.

Kalani glanced over at her. "Am I not?"

"You're a herald of _something_ ," Josephine answered vaguely, reading over her letter as she reached across the desk to dip her stylus into the ink well once more. "Of Andraste, of... Ghilan'nain, perhaps," the elven name rolled easily enough off her tongue despite the hesitation over an unfamiliar word. "Does it really matter what, so long as the people have hope?" She finally met Kalani's gaze, warm eyes sincere.

"I... Suppose not," the elf admitted quietly.

Josephine smiled encouragingly at her and looked down at her parchment, signing at the bottom with a flourish.  
"There! Done," she remarked, laying down her stylus and reaching for the stick of sealing wax and the heavy metal stamp left beside the candles on her desk from the last note she had written.

"Is this another one for Leliana?" Kalani asked warily. "Because, if so, I'm not delivering it."

Josephine laughed, folding the parchment into a neat little square and holding it down with one hand as she lit the wick of her wax stick off one of her candles with the other. "No, don't worry. This will be going out with the courier in the morning." She angled the stick over the parchment, waiting for a sizable pool of melted wax to gather, then blew out the flame, set down the stick and pressed her stamp into the cooling smudge of deep red.

"Is that your family coat of arms?" Kalani asked curiously. She knew all the human noble houses had their own insignia, couldn't wrap her head around them all. Josephine seemed to know each one by heart which never ceased to amaze her.

Josephine sighed wistfully and carefully lifted the stamp out of the wax, holding it up so Kalani could see the design on the base. "No... Not really. The original crest design was abandoned when my family was exiled from Orlais."

"Exiled?!" Kalani stared at her in shock.

Josephine smiled, amused by her reaction, and left the stamp on her desk as she pushed her chair back. "Something that happened a long time ago. It's too late to get into it now, another time perhaps?"

"You're going to reveal you're a family of pirates, aren't you?" Kalani asked playfully, rising from her chair as Josephine did.

"Of course not!" Josephine cried, scandalised.

"I knew it!" Kalani cried triumphantly. "I knew you weren't nearly as sweet and innocent as you seem!" She grinned broadly.

"Sweet?" Josephine cocked her head as she circled her desk.

"And innocent," Kalani said quickly, watching Josephine bend down to blow out the multitude of candles scattered over various surfaces. The elf opened the door out into the chantry to allow some light to enter from outside as the room darkened.

"Well, I assure you, my family is innocent of piracy," Josephine told her, heading out of her study.

"A pity," Kalani remarked, following her and closing the door behind them. "I like a good pirate story."

"Then you should speak with Varric," Josephine looked down at her and laughed as she was met with a cheeky grin. "I'm sure he has hundreds."

"I don't doubt that," Kalani smiled fondly. She enjoyed sitting with Varric by his campfire, or in the warmth of the tavern, and listening to his stories. He was definitely talented, but she could see why Cassandra grew frustrated with his tall tales as he wove fact and fiction expertly together. Kalani was less bothered. It was nice to lose herself amongst the pictures Varric painted, at least for a little while.

Josephine pushed open the chantry doors and heavy flakes of snow swirled inside.

"Ah, still cold," Kalani sighed, stepping carefully over the frozen ground, wary of ice patches lying hidden beneath a new blanket of snow.

"As always," Josephine smiled, crossing her arms tight over her chest to stay warm. "Go on ahead, I have business with Leliana."

Kalani glanced towards the spymaster's tent and saw, with a start, Leliana had already seen them. "Of course. I'll speak with you tomorrow?" She returned her gaze to Josephine.

"I'll have a pirate tale ready," Josephine teased, dark eyes bright with mischief.

Kalani grinned at her as she turned away and headed into the night, towards the cabin she called home for now. "I look forwards to it," she called over her shoulder, and was rewarded with a soft laugh from Josephine.

* * *

 **A/N: I had only a little plan for this and mainly let the conversation lead it.**


End file.
